Today, October 9th (Wednesday) in the General Staff of ARM a briefing was held on the occasion of the field exercise “Macedonian Flash – 9”, which will be carried out at the Army Training Area “Krivolak” and the Training Centre “Pepelishte” from 12 to 18.10.2013. The briefing was attended by: the Commander of the Joined Operations Command (JOC) of ARM, Major General Metodija Velickovski, the director of the exercise, Lieutenant Colonel Zoran Ilov, the chief of the evaluation team, Lieutenant Colonel Gjoko Maksimov, the spokesperson for the General Staff of ARM and some of the key personnel of General Staff and JOC involved in the planning process and preparation of the exercise.
The media representatives were presented with the most important information about the exercise “Macedonian Flash – 9”, as well as the possibilities for its full media coverage and attendance. In charge of the planning and conducting of the exercise is JOC, and there will be evaluation of the medium infantry battalion group (self-evaluation Level 2) and NATO evaluations (Level 1) for the light maneuver treatment facility, according to the NATO Operational Capabilities Concept.
General Velickovski noted that during the exercise “Macedonian Flash – 9”, ARM will conduct a complex exercise with live firing unit with the rank of reinforced infantry battalion, which will be second time in one month period, emphasizing it as a challenge even for much bigger and more modern armies. He added that from the 1700 participants of the exercise “Macedonian Flash – 9”, he expects them to confirm the high level of interoperability and operational capability of ARM in conducting missions led by NATO, EU and UN, and on the planned complex shooting with different kinds of armament to demonstrate high level of combat readiness and capacity to handle high risk assignments.
The self-evaluation – Level 2 of the medium infantry battalion group will be conducted by certified ARM evaluating team, under monitoring by NATO evaluating team consisting of 15 members, responsible for NATO evaluation (Level 1) for the light maneuver treatment facility. The opening of the exercise is scheduled for 14th October in Training Centre “Pepelishte”.
