The International Center for Peacekeeping and Security (Lviv Oblast) has begun the active phase of the Rapid Trident 2014 joint U.S.-Ukrainian tactical exercise.
On the first day of the active phase, the unit represented by the U.S. contingent performed a 40-kilometer journey in a military convoy, with similar missions executed by Ukrainian and Bulgarian troops in parallel, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said on Sept. 23.
“According to the conditions for executing the maneuver, the military convoy, which stretched hundreds of meters, was to experience multiple ambushes by ‘sabotage’ groups, ‘mined’ stretches of road, road blocking by an enraged ‘local’ population and so on. So the troops had to ‘repel’ sudden attacks, provide aid to the ‘injured,’ ‘demine’ highways and negotiated with civilian leaders,” the Defense Ministry said in the statement.
The exercise was monitored by observers while the MILES (Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System) tactical training system helped bring the training conditions close to the real-combat ones. According to the observers, overall the troops executed practically all the missions during the march. The march was followed by a summary of outcomes and discussion of various situations that arose.
The Rapid Trident 2014 international U.S.-Ukrainian exercise is taking place on the training grounds in Yavoriv, Lviv region, on Sept. 15 – 26. It was reported earlier that it will involve around 1,200 troops from 15 countries, including Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Canada, Georgia, Germany, the United Kingdom, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain and the U.S., as well as NATO representatives.
The U.S. was planning to send 200 troops from its 173rd Airborne Combat Brigade Team based in Italy to take part in this exercise.
