Distinguished Visitors’ Day of Exercise Dacian Strike 23

Deputy Chief of Defence Staff, Lieutenant General Gheorghițã Vlad, and the Chief of Georgian Defence Forces, Major General Giorgi Matiashvili, participated on Thursday, June 15, in the Distinguished Visitors Day of Exercise Dacian Strike 23 (DAST23), organized at Smârdan Secondary Combat Training Center, Galați.

Approximately 600 Romanian and Allied soldiers of the HQ MND-SE, HQ MN BDE-SE, the US 1st Combat Brigade, the US 10th Mountain Troop Division, Romania NATO Battle Group, Military Intelligence Brigade and the 52nd LAROM Battalion participate in DAST23 Exercise, over June 12-16. Also, Romanian and Italian Air Forces’ capabilities and forces (IAR 99 Șoim, IAR 330 Puma Socat and IAR 330 with MEDEVAC configuration and Eurofighter Typhoon EF2000) as well as forces from Novo Selo Training Range /Bulgaria and Bulgaria NATO Battle Group participate in the exercise.

The Deputy Chief of Defence Staff appreciated that the performances recorded during the operational phase of DAST23 are the result of the remarkable commitment of those who planned and conducted the exercise, namely the soldiers of the HQ MND-SE. "The main challenge of this major training event was to exert the command and control of a group of ground, air and intelligence support forces in order to perform a combined, precise and decisive live fire mission. What was seen in the field is the most realistic indicator of the professional performance of a division headquarters that was assigned very important operational responsibilities in this area of the Allied territory," Lieutenant General Gheorghițã Vlad stated.

DAST23 is part of the “Dacian Strike” series of exercise, being at its first iteration from 2023. It is a joint-type live command exercise, which aims at training and validating the HQ MND-SE fire control team in exerting its control over the assigned air and ground areas of operation by integrating all firing elements and structures

The participation of the Chief of the Georgian Defence Forces of Georgia in the Distinguished Visitors’ Day takes place in the context of the visit that the high-ranking Georgian official is paying to our country, over June 13-15.

The Press Office