Bulgaria hosts multinational ‘Platinum Lion 2018’ military exercise
Seven hundred military personnel from eight countries are taking part in the Platinum Lion 2018 military exercise, the largest of its kind in Bulgaria this year, at the Novo Selo Bulgarian-US joint military base.
Participants in the exercise include military personnel from Bulgaria, the US, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Moldova, Romania and the UK.
The Platinum Lion Exercise is a battalion level of peace keeping operations designed to provide quality, organized and realistic training for designated military units from the countries involved.
By an official description, the exercise strengthens relationships in a joint training environment, builds understanding of partner national tactics, techniques and procedures and increases interoperability with allied / partner forces.
Colonel Stoyan Shopov, of the staff of Bulgaria’s Second Mechanised Brigade, told the media that in 2018, the responsibility for the preparation, planning and conduct of the training was delegated to land forces under the leadership of Bulgarian officers and NCOs.
The exercise, of which the official day is August 8, involves a scenario of combating terrorist insurgents. Equipment used in the exercise includes an Mi-24 helicopter, a T-72 tank, Bradley armoured vehicles and infantry weaponry.
In the course of the exercise, Bulgarian and Serbian soldiers clear a “public building” of terrorists. This also involves evacuating an “injured” soldier from the building to be casevaced on a Cougar helicopter.
(Photo: Corporal Alexander Sturdivant/US Marine Corps)
