The "Tangled Eel" exercise was held in recent days in the mission in Kosovo, conducted by the assets of the Regional Command West in order to improve the interoperability between the assets provided by the various countries that contribute to the "Joint Enterprise" mission in Kosovo .
The Regional Command West is the Italian-led multinational Command on which both maneuvering units, aimed at guaranteeing the safety of the western sector of Kosovo, and liaison and monitoring teams called "Liaison Monitoring Team" (LMT), intended for cooperation and to the connection with the local population.
The simulated scenario for the conduct of the exercise involved the maneuvering forces of the Regional Command West in a "field house evacuation operation", i.e. the exfiltration of a liaison and monitoring team (LMT) from the structure in which the latter operates on a daily basis, following an escalation of protests, simulated "ad hoc" for the conduct of training, by KFOR units in the role of opposing forces.
The exercise was divided into three phases. In the first phase, an Austrian middle infantry component, using armored vehicles, isolated the area destined to conduct the operations, precluding the simulated crowd in turmoil from receiving reinforcements from outside the device.
In the second phase, the Italian and Moldovan anti-riot assets, reaching the riot area, the first aboard armored vehicles VTLM "Lince", the others by infiltration by helicopter, lined up close to the crowd, guaranteeing control and the subsequent disarticulation.
The third and final phase involved the use of a platoon based on the 24th “Peloritani” regiment which, having reached the exercise area using multirole helicopters, conducted the recovery and subsequent exfiltration of the liaison team.
The complex training activity was planned and carried out to test the coordination capacities between the various units, the uniformity of the technical-tactical procedures used in Operating Theater, the timing and the reaction methods implemented when events could threaten safety of KFOR personnel, stability and freedom of movement in the Regional Command West Responsibility Area.
The Regional Command West includes KFOR units from seven different countries such as: Italy, Slovenia, Austria, Moldova, Turkey, Poland and Switzerland. The seven countries constitute a single force that contributes to the maintenance of a safe "environment", as established by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244.
