BUCHAREST, Romania – Multinational Division Southeast (MND-SE) headquarters met the NATO readiness requirements close to finishing its first exercise, May 12, 2016.
Exercise "Dacian Lynx 2016” provided an opportunity to strengthen relationships and enhance interoperability between Southeastern Alliance members and the multinational staff members assigned to MND-SE and its respective NATO Force Integration Units in Romania and Bulgaria.
The aim of "Dacian Lynx 2016” was to train and validate NATO forces in planning and conducting crisis response operations to restore peace and security in a joint operation area. During the exercise, military personnel from MND-SE and both NFIUs were provided guidance and support by subject matter experts from Allied Joint Force Command Naples.
"It is a great honor to be here and to see how much progress we are making. This is important because this new headquarters is part of NATO’s response to a more challenging and more dangerous security environment,” said NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg.
Stoltenberg also said that NATO is adapting and responding by implementing the biggest reinforcement to collective defense since the end of Cold War.
The key focus of the exercise was to prove the ability of MND-SE to command and control the NFIUs in Romania & Bulgaria and to demonstrate their ability to facilitate reception, staging, and onward movement and integration of assigned NATO forces.
"The headquarters contributes to strengthen NATO force structure by providing additional options for conducting Alliance missions in the southern part of the allied Eastern Flank,” said Romanian Minister of Defense, Mihnea Motoc.
More than 250 personnel from 11 NATO nations trained together during command post / computer assisted exercise "Dacian Lynx 2016” in three different locations: MND-SE and NATO Force Integration Unit (NFIU) Romania in Bucharest, as well as NFIU Bulgaria in Sofia.
Participants said the fictitious scenario used in the exercise created excellent opportunities for personnel to train in order to sharpen critical skills and accomplish the missions of the Alliance, and more specifically of the NATO Response Force.
Story and photos by Multinational Division Southeast Public Affairs Office