CAF Air Force servicemen take part in “Joint action” military exercise

Contingent Commander, in which there are 21 CAF members, is Major Marijan Skorija, and final part of the exercise will take place in Sweden from 8 to 17 November 2010.

The aim of the exercise is interoperability, developing of skills in planning, coordination and execution of the tasks arising from the mission of the EU Nordic battle group in order to achieve full operational capability and the integration of the Nordic battle group to participate in any international peacekeeping operations under the EU auspices. EU Nordic battle group, where the largest contribution has been given by Sweden as the leading nation, Finland, Estonia, Norway and Ireland, will be on standby in the first half of 2011.

The decision on the CAF participation in the “Joint action” international military exercise, as well as the Letter of Intent of the Kingdom of Sweden on cooperation in the Nordic battle group in 2011, was adopted by the Croatian Government in October 2010.

Croatia already declared its participation in EU battle group with Germany as leading nation in the second half of the 2012. Apart from Croatia and Germany, in this group will be members of the armed forces of Austria, the Czech Republic, Ireland and Macedonia. 250 members of the Croatian Armed Forces has been planned to participate, with the following declared forces: motorized infantry company, engineer platoon for horizontal structures, command, support and national elements. At the same time, a battle group consisting of Italy, Hungary and Slovenia will be on standby.

The concept of EU battle groups (EU BG) foresees its establishment for a period of 6 months (stand-by period). Beginning from January 2007, EU has two battle groups on standby semi-annually.