“Immediate Response 12” International military exercise

The exercise involved more than 700 members of the armed forces, mostly from the Croatian and the United States armed forces, and members of the armed forces of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia.

“Immediate Response 12” exercise is conducted with the aim of promoting regional stability and security and strengthening interoperability between NATO and partner countries. The opening ceremony at the military training facility “Eugen Kvaternik” was attended by the Commander of Army Major General Dragutin Repinc who on this occasion said that the exercise was designed to improve joint interoperability of allied and partner nations and for advance preparation of participants for successful participation in joint, multinational and integrated environment. The opening ceremony was also attended by co-exercise directors Croatian Colonel Ivan Turkalj and the U.S. Colonel Andrew R. Heppelmann. The opening ceremony was also attended by the lined up exercise participants from the U.S., Croatia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Slovenia, as well as observers from Macedonia and Serbia.

“Immediate Response” exercise is part of the joint training and exercise of the EUCOM (United States European Command) and the USAREUR (United States Army-Europe). The exercise is conducted using an imaginary scenario, and besides ground forces, the exercise will also include members of the Croatian Air Force and Air Defence, Special Operations Battalion and Support Command.