site.btaBalkan Sentinel 25 Multinational Tactical Live-Fire Exercise Kicks Off at Koren Training Area

The Balkan Sentinel 25 multinational tactical live-fire exercise kicked off at the Koren training area on June 4, the Defence Ministry’s press centre said on Wednesday. The exercise is part of a series of exercises called Bulgarian Defender 25 and is the largest training event for this country’s Land Forces this year. It involves nearly 1,700 servicepersons and more than 350 pieces of fighting equipment.

The focus of Balkan Sentinel 25 is the participation of a reinforced mechanized battalion in a counter-offensive operation in an allied format within а brigade. The main objective of the exercise is to improve the capabilities of the headquarters and units of the 3rd mechanized battalion of the 61st mechanized brigade in planning and conducting offensive combat operations in an allied format.

Balkan Sentinel 25 also includes participation from an artillery battery from the 61st mechanized brigade; a tank company from the specialist training centre; a multiple rocket launcher company from the 4th artillery regiment; an engineer company from the 55th engineer regiment; a company for nuclear, chemical and biological defense from the 38th battalion; a reconnaissance company; civil-military cooperation and psychological operations teams from the 78th support battalion; a module from the 110th logistics regiment; units from the communications and information support battalion; forces from the Air Force; medical teams from the Military Medical Academy; a maneuver company from the US Army; a mechanized company and an artillery battery from Italy’s Land Forces, part of the Multinational Battlegroup; a mechanized platoon from Romania’s Land Forces; and cadets from the Vasil Levski National Military University.

Preparations for the exercise lasted ten days, with the deployment of units and combat organization at the training area starting on Wednesday, the press release said.