RAF Explosive Ordnance Disposal
team train alongside Romanians
Personnel from
RAF Wittering based 5131 Bomb Disposal Squadron have conducted joint training
with their counterparts from the Romanian Army at Ramnicu Valcea in central
Romania.
The Explosive
Ordnance Disposal (EOD) detachment from RAF Wittering is supporting 135
Expeditionary Air Wing currently deployed at Mihail Kogalniceanu airbase on the
Black Sea coast of Romania and conducting enhanced air policing of NATO
airspace.
The Officer
Commanding EOD, Flight Lieutenant Rob Cornford said: “The role I have as
bomb disposal officer is ensuring that any incidents with munitions are dealt
with if they need to be by explosive ordnance disposal. I provide 24/7 crash
cover for making safe munitions, flares or ejection systems that may be
damaged.”
Major Adrian
Enache of the Romanian Army’s 1st EOD Group welcomed RAF personnel Cpl Greg
Cheeseman and Flt Lt Rob Cornford with a tour of the bespoke training
facilities and demonstration of equipment. He invited them to a parade to
celebrate 20 years since the inception of the Romanian EOD unit. He said: “Interoperability
is a question of attitude. If we work together here, we can work together
wherever we want.”
On the training
range, Major Enache’s team demonstrated novel techniques to counter Improvised
Explosive Devices and rendering safe Romanian Air Force rockets. Bries,
the ten year old German Shepherd and veteran of Afghanistan was also given the
opportunity to show her prowess in detecting different types of explosives.
Flt Lt Cornford
summed up the value of this, saying: “We’ve been doing some training on
Romanian Air Force weapons, looking at how the Romanians operate and we’ve
showed them our procedures for disposing of different types of munitions.
They’ve also demonstrated some of their counter-Improvised Explosive Device
(c-IED) capability with 3D printed C-IED weapons; it’s a pretty cost effective
solution for disposing of IEDs.
He added: “It’s
been good to see how the two nations work together, and how they work their
different equipment. It’s really good to train with our NATO partners. It’s
something we can look forward to doing in the future.”
The Romanian
military also lead the way in working as a ‘whole force’ with civilian
staff formed up alongside the Army for the 20th anniversary parade. Major
Enache said: “The civilians on this unit are participating and working side by
side with the military. Everyone is doing their job in order to achieve the
common goal.”
The ability to
share lessons across services is eased by making personal connections. Romanian
Air Force Sergeant Major Florin Monteanu, and Romanian Navy Petty Officer Mares
Dragos were at the anniversary celebrations, the latter saying: “We all have
different skills. When we work together we spread our skills and change each
other. It’s a good opportunity for us.”
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