Eurocorps executed its most ambitious exercise under EU command

Mourmelon, 25 November 2008.

Some months after the European Parliament voted with a large majority a resolution proposing: “to place Eurocorps as a standing force under EU command”, the command posts of this big unit deployed to the French training area of Mourmelon-le-Grand in the vicinity of Reims. Under the command of Lieutenant General Pedro Pitarch, the Eurocorps executed its exercise “Common Effort 08” training the planning and control of a crisis Management operation under the command of the European Union.

More as 2000 men and women from twenty nations participated at an exercise, commanded by Lieutenant General Pitarch, which scenario used the map of Andalusia, chosen for the specific and complex geographical characteristics and for its numerous ports and airports used as entry points for the force in the hypothetic conflict zone.

Officers, NCO’s and soldiers from Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Spain, the five framework nations of the Eurocorps, from Austria, Greece, Poland and Turkey as sending nations and from the USA, Italy and Romania, who will integrate the Eurocorps as sending nations next year, and Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Slovakia, the Netherlands, the UK, Sweden and Switzerland participated. Some represented nations are members from the European Union and NATO. They have the opportunity to use the analitic capacity of the command posts and the decision making processes of this authentic multinational headquarters that characterizes Eurocorps. The coordination between land, air, sea and special forces was also tested.

The exercise is the culmination of Eurocorps’ long preparation process. This year the HQ was involved with two other exercises and an air deployment of the Fact Finding Team. This impressive series of exercises simultaneously became a test case for the new Communication and Information System (CIS) of the French armed forces (incorporating the initial interoperability between the French and German systems used by the French-German Brigade) and served as an efficiency test for the use of national and allied CIS and telecommunications.

The first elements of Eurocorps arrived in Camp Mourmelon on the 13th October and the redeployment will end around the 12th December.

 

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