ACTMedia
April 16, 2015
Military exercise putting on alert units with approximately 3,000 troops participating
Minister of National Defence, Mircea Dusa, on Wednesday assessed on the Smardan polygon, in Galati County, a military exercise putting on alert units subordinated to the ‘Getica’ 2nd Infantry Division in Buzau, with approximately 3,000 troops participating.
The military exercise kicked off on Tuesday, 6 pm, Romania’s time, at the command of the Minister of National Defence, Mircea Dusa, and ended on Wednesday morning, 4 am, when all the 3,000 troops, from the Buzau, Focsani, Galati and Braila garrisons, and their military equipment, arrived at the Smardan polygon. The Minister said he was pleased with the reaction time of the military participating in the exercise, while also specifying there was no incident recorded during the troops’ movement to the Smardan polygon. Moreover, the Minister specified that the last similar exercise was organised in Romania six years ago, because of the financial problems.
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Romanian, US, British troops stage NATO-planned exercises
On Wednesday evening he will give the order to cease the alert. Some of the troops participating in this exercise will remain in the Smardan polygon, where a multinational exercise will take place on Thursday, ‘Wind Spring 15′, to last until April 30. There are going to participate 2,200 servicemen with weapons and war equipment, from the UK, Moldova, Romania and the US armies.
According to Minister Mircea Dusa, the exercise is part of the a Readiness Action Plan (RAP) to safeguard the NATO’s and EU’s Eastern flanks, as approved in the Wales Summit. According to this RAP, a US destroyer is currently located in Constanta, 11 A 10 aircraft are located in Campia Turzii, where the pilots are currently undergoing training. Moreover, a number of Portuguese pilots are about to arrive in Romania with their F16 aircraft and also US pilots with F15 aircraft. Mircea Dusa also specified that there are more than 340 military preparation and training exercises involving Romanian troops and NATO and EU partners scheduled for this year, which is more than in the past years.
‘Based on the Readiness Action Plan (RAP) to safeguard its Eastern flank, as approved in the Wales Summit, we will permanently have troops assigned on this flank by rotation. We already have an US destroyer located in Constanta, 11 A 10 aircrafts in Campia Turzii, with the US pilots training together with the Romanians, and we also expect the Portuguese F16 aircraft with their pilots and the US F15 aircraft and there will be many more military exercises. Moreover, we permanently have a NATO or EU ship in the Black Sea and in the Constanta Port, where there are also conducted joint exercises. This year, since we have the necessary funds, we plan to conduct 340 training exercises with Romanian troops. Some of them will be organised together with our partners in NATO and the EU, while others will be organised by our military units. At the same time, the Romanian military will also participate in military drills and training exercises in other states in Europe. Currently, we have Romanian troops training in Germany and Bulgaria. These exercises are very important for achieving the inter-operability with the militaries in NATO and the other states,” said Dusa.
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