SHIELD 03 at Pasuljanske livade

The exercise “Shield 03" which entails control of operational capabilities of declared units of the Army of Serbia which are to participate in multinational operations was held today. It is a level 2 self-evaluation exercise of a motorized company, a military police platoon and a CRBD platoon.

Exercise "Shield 03" will last from 3rd to 6th June, and today's day exercises were attended by foreign military attaches accredited to Serbia.

The director of the self-evaluation Colonel Milan Radovanovic said the exercise was going as planned.

- The first evaluations show that our units are trained and prepared at a very high level, and I hope that after NATO evaluation and testing of their combat readiness, they will receive a certificate so they can stand shoulder to shoulder with the best-trained armies of the world.

Lt. Col. Zoltan Rajda, chief of the exercise staff, said the aim of the exercise was to demonstrate that the Army of Serbia were able to participate in multinational operations and to perform tasks pertaining to the second military missions beyond the borders of Serbia.

- The soldiers in our declared units must know the procedures and rules of engagement in accordance with the standards of the Operational Capabilities Concept. This includes the preparation of units according to NATO standards in order to be interoperable with units of other nations in multinational operations.

The exercise is being performed on the location of the barracks "Miodrag Novakovic Dzudza" and much of the military training ground "Pasuljanske livade" with three units of the Army of Serbia declared for participation in the multinational operations.. These units are a motorized infantry company of the 3rd Army Brigade – with 180 troops, a military police platoon with 46 members and a RCBD platoon with 40 members. In addition, another 200 members of SAF will support the exercise SHIELD 03 supervised by a three-member NATO observer team.

The aim of the exercise is to test and evaluate the achieved level of combat capabilities of declared units for participation in multinational operations in accordance with the standards of the Operational Capabilities Concept.

Modern weapons and equipment of the Serbian Army as an automatic rifle of caliber 556, SUVs "HUMMERs" and modern means of communication were used in the exercise. Together with a demonstration of helicopter landing, securing convoys, attacks on a base, cooperation with the Red Cross.