Platinum Wolf 18 Exercise Successfully Conducted
Thursday, 21.6.2018 | Training
Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin attended today the Distinguished Visitors Day of the Platinum Wolf 18 multinational exercise at the South Base.
About 500 officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers of the United States, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Montenegro and Serbia took part in the exercise.
As Minister Vulin pointed out, participation in peacekeeping operations is one of the most important missions of the Serbian Armed Forces.
– In this way, we are preparing to bring peace around the world, where war and hatred exist to be peace and progress. In this way, the Serbian Armed Forces shows that it is able to cooperate with the most developed armies of the world, shows that it is able to transfer its experience, just as it can accept and receive the experience of other armed forces. I am grateful to the representatives of all the countries that are here today, for their work, enthusiasm, persistence, but I also want to commend the members of the Serbian Armed Forces who have shown that our experience and competence are at the world's highest level, the minister of defence said.
He said that the state of Serbia is militarily neutral and as such cooperates both with the East and the West.
– Everyone who we can learn something from is welcome, just as we can teach many others. The state of Serbia will always take care of maintaining a balance in its foreign policy, as it maintains a balance in its military and in the arming and preparing its own army. The Serbian Armed Forces is able to protect its country, our way of life and our people. Every exercise, like this one, will further improve our combat readiness, the ability to support all decisions of the state leadership regarding the fate of this country, as we are able to ensure peace and security throughout the territory of the Republic of Serbia for all our citizens, Minister Vulin concluded.
Kyle Scott, US Ambassador to Serbia commended today's exercise and all of its participants.
– It is an exercise that is very useful for peacekeeping operations and the most important thing is that our units and various international units can practice together. In peacekeeping operations, several different armies are involved and they must know how to communicate and have the same tactics. We are very happy that we participated in the exercise, and I am particularly happy that the cooperation between the Serbian and US armies is deep and that we have three times more exercises with Serbia than Serbia has with any other partner. We are proud of this, and the results are visible, Scott pointed out.
Denis Keefe, Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Serbia, also expressed satisfaction with the successful completion of the exercise.
– Our military has opportunity to participate in the Platinum Wolf exercise for the second time. It is very important for us, because we can develop our cooperation in this area, as we are developing it in other areas with Serbia. We wish to have an important role in Serbia and in the Western Balkans also in the future. I hope that this cooperation will continue to develop, Keefe said.
Colonel Slađan Stamenković, Exercise Commander, expressed satisfaction with the work, discipline and professionalism of all participants in the exercise.
The aim of the exercise is to enhance interoperability and mutual understanding among the members of partner nations' armed forces at the tactical level while conducting peace support operation in a multinational environment.
The exercise was carried out on topics such as “Tactics, techniques and procedures in multinational operations – non-lethal weapons” and “Peacekeeping operation”. The military personnel from the participating countries were trained in the use of non-lethal weapons, procedures, actions and procedures in engaging in multinational operations in international environment.
