It was attended by the President of the Republic of Croatia as Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, Ivo Josipovi\u0107, the Defence Minister Ante Kotromanovi\u0107, the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia, Lt. Gen. Drago Lovri\u0107, senior military and state officials, former chiefs of the General Staff and the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Croatia, H. E. Kenneth Merten. The Exercise constitutes the first part of the Exercise known as “Spremnost-13” (\u201cReadiness 13\u201d), to take place from 3 \u2013 11 May 2013.<\/p>\n
The Distinguished Visitors were welcomed by the Croatian Army Commander, Maj. Gen. Dragutin Repinc, as well as by the Executive Officer of the Exercise and the Commander of the Mechanised Guard Brigade, Col. Boris \u0160eri\u0107 and the Exercise Director, Col. Tihomir Kundid, who briefed the attendants on the Exercise. The purpose of the live-fire Exercise was to display trainedness and preparedness of the Motorised Brigade\u2019s units for rapid and efficient preparation and execution of defensive and offensive operations through co-ordinated inter-branch and inter-service operation with the U.S. Air Force (represented by two F-16 aircraft from the Aviano Air Base, Italy) and with the Croatian Air Force and Air Defence respectively (flying two MiG 21s and a M1-171-Sh helicopter) <\/p>\n
The Exercise in the simulated battlefield conditions in the 40-min time frame displayed integrated fire, fire and manoeuvre control as well as the manoeuvre and firing capacities of the combat assets employed. The Exercise Scenario included phased operation of a reinforced mechanised battalion (through defence preparation, defence execution, transition into the offensive and pursuit). \u00a0<\/p>\n
Over 700 members of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatian and the United States participated in the Exercise \u2013 including the Motorised Brigade Command, the Brigade\u2019s \u201cGrom\u201d Battalion (the Batt Command and the 1st Mechanised Coy with the \u201cPatria\u201d APVs and the \u201cMetis\u201d anti-tank device, the Fire Support Coy with the 120-mm mortars and the Recce Platoon), the Mechanised Guard Brigade\u2019s Tank Platoon\u00a0 (with the M-84 tanks), the Motorised Brigade\u2019s \u201cVukovi\u201d Battalion (with the \u201cFagot\u201d anti-tank system and\u00a0 82-mm mortars), the Motorised Brigade\u2019s Air Defence Battalion (the Air Defence Platoon with the 20\/3 anti-aircraft guns) and Artillery and Missile Battalion (with the 122-mm D-30 and SPRL Howitzers), the Motorised Brigade FAC team, the Military Intelligence Battalion team with the \u201cSkylark\u201d UAV and the Croatian and the U.S. Air Force forces. <\/p>\n
In his statement for the media following the Exercise President Josipovi\u0107 rated the readiness of the participants as excellent. \u201cThe Exercise organisation, preparation and conduct of the Exercise were excellent and demonstrated well-coordinated operation of the Croatian Armed Forces members with the Allies\u2019 troops.
Minister Kotromanovi\u0107 pointed out the complexity of the Exercise and a number of the elements observed. \u201cWe shall work on to keep the members of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia trained, prepared, motivated and strong. Every soldier has to strive towards perfection\u201d, stated the Minister. <\/p>\n
The Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Drago Lovri\u0107 expressed his pride over the readiness of the members of the Croatian Armed Forces, who have been receiving commendations from the partner nations, the Allies and NATO alike. \u201cWe have the capability to defend the national territory, to participate in international operations as well as to train other nations\u201d said Lt. Gen. Lovri\u0107.<\/p>\n
The second part of the Exercise is scheduled immediately upon conclusion of the first, and entails national evaluation of the 2nd Mechanised Guard Coy of the 1st Mechanised Guard Brigade (\u201cTigrovi\u201d) in preparation for the NATO Response Force.
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The Army Training Range “Eugen Kvaternik” near Slunj, Croatia was the venue today 7 May 2013 of the live-fire tactical exercise titled \u201cThe Mechanised Battalion Conducting Defence and Transition to the Counter-Attack\u201d. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":37128,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[129],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-announcements"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n