On Tuesday, 10 January, Minister of National Defence, Angel Tilvar and the Chief of Defence Staff, General Daniel Petrescu visited the Romanian Sky Guardians Air Defence Detachment of the NATO Battle Group deployed to Bemowo Piskie Training Area (BPTA).

The activity is part of the direct meetings scheduled by the MoND leadership with the soldiers of the Romanian contingents deployed in foreign missions in the Western Balkans and Poland.

The official delegation talked to 103 air defence specialists who spent half of their mission within the twelfth rotation in Poland. The agenda of the briefing held by Major Florian-Razvan Ion, the detachment commander, comprised details about the mission and organization for the mission, the participation in the permanent training program of the Allied defensive element, aspects related to the logistic and communications support, as well as details about the housing conditions from the BPTA. The dialogue with the soldiers emphasized a high morale, a full integration into the multinational infrastructure based on the excellent cooperation relations with the Allied colleagues, as well as armament and equipment which meets the air defence operative requirements of the NATO Battle Group.

The defence minister congratulated the Romanian soldiers for the outstanding manner of the mission accomplishment by pointing out that the positive image build by the Romanian Armed Forces among the Allied armed forces has increased since 2017 also due to the joint missions and direct interaction of the thousands of Romanian air defence specialists with the thousands of Allied comrades from the troop contributing nations to the Battle Group Poland.

In his turn, the Chief of Defence Staff pointed out the importance the contingent has for the Romanian defence institution, both from the perspective of the participation of a national defensive element in the Allied security architecture on the Eastern flank and its cooperation with the defence institution from Poland. You, the ones deployed here, and the Polish infantrymen deployed to Romania, represent not just a contribution to NATO's Forward Presence but also an argument of the long-lasting defensive cooperation anchors between the Baltic Sea and Black Sea shores. It is a task you have accomplished so far and will have to accomplish from now on with the same responsibility, General Daniel Petrescu told the Romanian soldiers deployed to Poland.

As a sign of appreciation of the way they accomplished the missions assigned, minister Angel Tilvar offered plaques wearing the MoND heraldic marks to Florian-Razvan Ion and Captain Alexandra Buta-Leta, while the Chief of Defence Staff awarded The Defence Staff's Emblem of Honor to Sergeant Major Iulian-Cristian Veliscu and the Emblem of merit in the service of Peace, second class to Captain Victor-Cosmin Merin and Corporal third class Florin-Adrian Badeci.

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Sky Guardians Air Defence Detachment, generated by 288th Air Defence Battalion was deployed in October 2022 to Bemowo Piskie Training Area, with the task of ensuring the enhanced Forward Presence on the North-Eastern flank of the Alliance, within the NATO Battle Group from Poland. During the six months of training, the AD artillerists participate in joint training exercises and activities alongside their American, British, Croatian and Polish colleagues in order to increase cohesion and level of interoperability among NATO troops.

The Romanian Armed Forces have been contributing since 2017 with an AD small unit to the NATO-led Battle Group, whose task is to ensure the enhanced Consolidated Presence, on rotational basis, in the North-Eastern part of the Alliance to deter any aggression, in accordance with the measures adopted within the 2016 Warsaw Summit. The Romanian participation in Poland is coordinated by General Ioan Emanoil Florescu Joint Forces Command. The first detachment (made up of 120 soldiers), embedded into the NATO Battle Group at Bemowo Piskie Military Base, was generated by the 205th Air Defence Battalion and was equipped with 35 mm OERLIKON air defence cannons. Starting with the eight rotation, the air defence canons were replaced by the GEPARD system. The soldiers of the 3rd Air Defence Battalion were the first who operated this system in Poland.

The Press Office