Today the first act of the second training phase, called “Rising”, of the battle group of NATO deployed on Hungarian territory as part of the operation Forward Land Forces.
The exercise Colossal Freedom saw the participation of approximately four hundred soldiers and one hundred and thirty vehicles (civilian and military) belonging to the Alpine brigade Rainbow wrasse of the Army, the 11th Hungarian Mechanized Brigade and a component of the Military Police Croatian. The units in the field were able to implement the technical-tactical procedures developed in the “Prime” phase and perfect the planning and conduct of offensive activities in complex scenarios.
The entire training activity was coordinated by the multinational staff of the battle group NATO, based in the city of Várpalota, but for the duration of the operations located within the base of Camp Croft. In this context, the close cooperation between the national contingent commanders which ensured joint leadership of the units on the field, optimizing the operational result and allowing the development of a linear maneuver.
The Italian shunting company, included within the battle group, participated by deploying on the ground two infantry platoons, a heavy mortar platoon and a team of snipers from the 5th Alpine Regiment, a sapper platoon from the 2nd Engineer Regiment, an artillery section with FH-70s from the 3rd Mountain Artillery Regiment and a reconnaissance platoon equipped with armored vehicles. Centaur of the Piedmont Cavalry (2nd).
In such a complex device characterized by a high dispersion of forces in the field, the phasing of the maneuver and the coordination of both direct and indirect fire become important. In this context, the maneuver commander can avail himself of the support of the drone operators of the 3rd Targeting Support Regiment "Bondone" and that of the Italian JTAC (Joint Terminal Attack Controller) team to pace the fire of the FH-70 self-propelled howitzers and the 120mm Thomson heavy mortar component with the third dimension.
The same JTAC, at the end of the indirect fire activity, led the intervention of the Hungarian Saab JAS 39 fighter aircraft. Gripen for the development of an activity called SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defences).
The entire exercise took place in the Hungarian training area which extends between the “Zero Point” and “Koros Hill” ranges, approximately fifteen minutes from the Camp Croft base (Veszprém).
