NATO Forces Practice CBRN Operability in Czech Republic
NATO recently held a training session for soldiers in the Czech Republic, focusing on Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) defense tactics.
The event included over 800 CBRN personnel from 13 NATO nations, including the United States.
With 100 pieces of specialized equipment, the teams practiced operations inspired by recent events involving CBRN threats.
The country hosting the event stated that they used safe and specific chemicals to imitate the existence of toxic substances during the program.
Missions also included getting ready for dealing with weapons of mass destruction.
The Czech Army's 31st CBRN Defence Regiment in Liberec collaborated with NATO's Framework Nations Concept - Cluster CBRN Protection to plan and host training sessions.
"Specific events are planned to test various CBRN defense abilities of NATO units, including those from the Czech Republic, in a diverse setting, improve cooperation, and importantly, exchange expertise and protocols," stated Major Radek Koštejn, head of the 31st CBRN Combat Readiness team.
Right now, the biggest concern is mainly nuclear weapons.
That's why we are adding scenarios with live radioactive substances in addition to chemical incidents. This way, teams can practice detecting and safely neutralizing these threats.
In certain situations, soldiers from different countries came together in groups of four to see how well they could work together.
"In getting ready, leaders of these groups need to consider the variations in the groups’ abilities and usual ways of working," Koštejn explained.
Czechia's CBRN Training
The Czech Republic stated that the training in Hradiště was the initial CBRN event held in the region since 2018 because of limitations imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Following the decrease in global health issues in 2022, the training was rescheduled because Czech CBRN experts were sent to Lithuania for NATO's enhanced Forward Presence. This was a response to Russia's ongoing aggression in Eastern Europe.
The Czech military announced that they will now conduct CBRN training every two years.
