15.03.2021.

Members of Military Academy and British Armed Forces conduct joint cold-weather training

Members of the Military Academy and the British Armed Forces Winter Warfare Centre, who are conducting a joint cold-weather ski touring training on the Kopaonik Mountain, were visited today by the Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Serbia Sion MacLeod, Assistant Minister for Defence Policy Predrag Bandić, Commandant of the Military Academy Major General Bojan Zrnić, PhD, and the UK Defence Attaché to Serbia Colonel Nik Ilic.

Commandant of the Military Academy Major General Bojan Zrnić said he was pleased to attend the training, pointing out the importance of both parties learning from each other.

- Our goal is to improve the curriculum related to winter warfare training, so that the Military Academy cadets can receive top training and prepare for this type of warfare. During the training, we will have the opportunity to see some of the equipment that we have not encountered so far, which will help us fully equip ourselves and improve the quality of winter warfare training at the Military Academy in the coming years - General Zrnić said. He took the opportunity to especially thank the Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Serbia for helping realize the training.

The Ambassador of United Kingdom to Belgrade Sian MacLeod said she was really pleased to attend the winter warfare training in Kopaonik.

- This is a bilateral training in ski touring and I am grateful to the Ministry of Defence for providing me with the opportunity to be here today – Ambassador MacLeod said.

The UK Defence Attaché Nik Ilic said he was glad that the exercise had been conducted despite difficult conditions , “caused not only by the coronavirus, but by adverse weather conditions”.

- I hope that this bilateral military cooperation activity that we are carrying out with the members of the Military Academy is the first of many to come this year, and everything will depend, of course, on the Covid-19 pandemic. We are pleased to have the opportunity to exchange experiences in cold-weather training, because that is the most difficult way to train. I hope that this is only the first step, and that the Military Academy instructors will come to Great Britain in the future, or to some other training, maybe to Norway. The first step is always the most difficult, but I am especially glad that we have started this difficult year - Colonel Nik Ilic said.

During the ten-day training, which is part of bilateral cooperation between the two countries, members of the two militaries – five Military Academy instructors, Departments of Tactics, Army Weapons and Military Equipment and Centre for Physical Education and Sports, and three British instructors – are exchanging winter warfare experiences, alongside the planned training activities.

After the presentation of the winter combat set used by the British instructors, today's training session included ski touring on Kopaonik’s more difficult terrain.