10.07.2014.

Day of High Officials at the "Platinsati Vuk" exercise

Defence Minister Bratislav Gasic, Head of the General Staff General Ljubisa Dikovic and the USA Ambassador Michael Kirby attended today the closing part of the multinational tactical exercise “Platinasti Vuk 2014” which began on June 30 at the “Jug” base near Bujanovac.

After the tour of the base and the National Training Center for units in multinational operations, and visiting participants of the exercise who demonstrated a part of the training, Defence Minister stressed the importance of the second mission of the Armed Forces of Serbia and the preparation of members for international peace keeping.

- The “Jug” base is of high importance for the Armed Forces of Serbia. We are working in capacity improvement and we expect for it to be finished in the end of 2017, as is planned with the Master Plan – Minister Gasic said, expressing firm belief that the base will soon become the Regional Training Center for units in peacekeeping operations.

- We expect to relatively soon buy out around 54 hectares of land in the near proximity to the base – Minister of Defence said, clarifying that the entire complex, as it has been envisioned and whose construction started four years ago, will be completed with
construction of the sports hall and several more training facilities.

- What we have seen today is cooperation between the Armed Forces of Serbia and countries in the region, and farther, who train together for participation in peacekeeping operations throughout the world – USA Ambassador Michael Kirby said, adding that, by 2017, the “Jug” base should get the certificate for a training center for units referred to multinational operations.

Evaluating the exercise as very good, General Dikovic pointed out that it had been a pleasure to organize such an exercise and be the host to participants from seven countries.

- The goal of the exercise was to check our ability to jointly realize tasks in multinational operations and to acquire new knowledge in order to fulfill tasks in operations – the Head of the General Staff said, adding that the exercise also served for making friendships, better bond and understanding among representatives of the seven armies.

General Dikovic expressed his belief that more such exercise will be realized at the “Jug” base, and that members of the Armed Forces of Serbia will participate in similar exercises in the region. He added that, so far, there have been no injured members of our military among those deployed in multinational operations in 13 countries, mostly due to good training and preparation.

Head of the Military Police at the General Staff of Croatia Brigadier General Tihomir Zebec said that all participants of the exercise, 14 of them, had nothing but most positive impressions of the organization and expressed hope for the cooperation between the countries to continue.

General Ioan Manc from the Romanian Armed Forces pointed out that, for him and his country, it was a great honor to participate in this exercise. He added that the Romanian military has organized many such exercises, and that now they had the chance to demonstrate their knowledge and skills, stressing that such exercises increase military interoperability in order to react jointly, if it were to become necessary.

The exercise took several days and included members of the Armed Forces of Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Azerbaijan, Macedonia, Croatia and USA, who train together for participation in multinational operations.

The exercise, led by the Head of the 4th Army Brigade Staff Colonel Srdjan Stamenkovic, was realized in two stages. During the training, the participants had the opportunity within the “Non-lethal Weapons” theme to learn about possibilities of non-lethal weapon, and they also practiced steps of apprehending persons without the use of means for temporary disablement, and use of truncheons and control of mass gatherings.

During the second stage of the exercise, under the theme “Peacekeeping Operation” at “Borovac” training ground, they practiced various procedures, such as: providing aid in combat actions, infantry and scouting patrols, protection of forces, motor vehicle patrols, convoy and escort, temporary control points, searching and blocking and actions in disabling explosive devices.