Blue Storm 2020 is a multinational fire exercise carried out a few days ago in the Naqoura shooting range in southern Lebanon.
The training event was planned and conducted by the Blue Helmets of the “Granatieri di Sardegna” brigade which currently make up the Joint Task Force Lebanon - Sector West under the command of gen. b. Diego Filippo Fulco.
The exercise involved all the units of the Western Sector: ItalBatt (Italy), GhanBatt (Ghana), MalBatt (Malaysia), RoKBatt (Republic of Korea), as well as assets of the Sector Mobile Reserve and the 5th brigade of the Lebanese Armed Forces (THE F).
The purpose of the exercise is to verify the effectiveness of the procedures for the fire support of armored vehicles and to improve the coordination and cooperation between the operating counters that are daily engaged under the UN signs.
VTLM "Lince" (Multirole Light Tactical Vehicle) with HITROLE system (Highly Integrated Turret Remotely Operated Light Electrical) equipped with 40mm grenade launcher and "Centauro" armored vehicle with 105mm gun together with the APC (Armored Personnel Carrier) from Malaysian, Ghanaian and Koreans and to the M48 Patton tanks of the Lebanese army the protagonists of the exercise.
Heavy vehicles represent a fundamental component of the forces deployed south of the Litani; the possibility of having these assets in fact guarantees deterrence, a precious element for the implementation of UNSCR (United Nation Security Council Resolution 1701).
Maintaining the stability, peace and security of the area is a pillar of UNIFIL's mandate. To achieve this, it is important that the contributing countries, as many as 44 of which 14 are employed by the Italian-led Task Force, are prepared and able to operate in an integrated manner.
Activities like the Blue storm they serve to increase interoperability, that is the ability to work together with acquired technical-tactical procedures.
350 men, 30 armored vehicles, over 5000 ammunition of various calibers, are the numbers of the activity which, visited by Major General Stefano Del Col, commander of the mission and by General Edgar Lawandos, commander of the 5th brigade deployed north of the Blue Line, represented an example of the bond that unites UNIFIL peacekeepers professionally with the Lebanese army in line with the provisions of resolution 1701.
