Dutch C-IED workshop completes

A workshop on Counter Improvised Explosive Devices (C-IED) involving 25 experts was successfully held in Soesterberg, the Netherlands, on 24-26 May 2016, the details of which were released by the European Defence Agency (EDA) on 3 June.

This marked the first C-IED workshop under the Joint Deployable Exploitation and Analysis Laboratory (JDEAL) framework. It involved participants from Norway, Sweden, Romania, Germany, France, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands, as well as the US. Participants also came from the Centre of Excellence for C-IED. The discussions focused on future and current trends in exploitation and on the JDEAL.

The attendees said that JDEAL was needed for analysis of IED incidents, materials, components and scenes to gain technical and tactical information on the threat and to identify supply chains. They also discussed hybrid warfare, potential JDEAL support for a common terminology, and deployable capability concepts.

Maj Geert Jan Verkoeijen, commander, JDEAL, said: 'Now that JDEAL has been delivered and the first deployable capability is operational, it should be used to a maximum for the benefit of the community. Given that the impact of IEDs on missions and operations continues to be significant, Member States are encouraged to deploy JDEAL in operations and to continue to prioritize joint training capabilities.

'JDEAL should become as visible as possible and be considered both a strategic and rapid reaction asset for decision-makers; There is an urgent need for agreeing on a common C-IED terminology to be used by all stakeholders.'