EUFOR is to hold military exercise in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) from September 3 until September 7.
The exercise, codenamed “Quick Response 2018,” is aimed to demonstrate the ability of EUFOR to successfully activate, quickly deploy and integrate companies held at readiness within its Intermediate Reserves Forces.
The exercise will involve the deployment of two light infantry companies, with one from Britain and the other from Kosovo.
In next several days, an Antonov transport plane will arrive at Sarajevo airport, bringing vehicles and cargo from the British troops participating in the exercise.
Special preparations were made at the airport to allow the landing of the Antonov transport plane.
‘Quick Response 2018’ is a EUFOR-led peace support operation exercise. It will take place in the areas of Sarajevo, Tuzla and Brcko among others. After last year’s successful cooperation, this year’s exercise will again bring together BiH law enforcement agencies, Armed Forces of BiH and EUFOR, in order to test their respective contingency plans.
EUFOR is able to draw on mobile and versatile Over the Horizon Reserve forces, if required, to augment in-theatre forces and deal with any threat to the safe and secure environment in support of the Ministry of Security and Ministry of Defence of BiH. EUFOR is governed by the UN Security Council’s executive mandate for this activity and is required to regularly rehearse this reinforcement. Therefore, ‘Quick Response 2018’ practices EUFOR’s capability to call in parts of their reserve forces and engage them in an international exercise. This year, EUFOR’s Multinational Battalion will be reinforced by Intermediate Reserve Forces from the United Kingdom and the Kosovo Force Tactical Reserve Battalion.
EUFOR, or the European Union Force Althea, is an international military deployment in Bosnia that replaced NATO’s SFOR in 2004, whose mandate is to oversee the implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement.
