Delivery of the 01-25 & 02-25 HomeMade Explosive Course – Advanced

From 16th June to 20th June 2025, and from 23rd June  to 27th  June2025, the NATO EOD COE organized two iterations of the Homemade Explosive Course - Advanced (HMEC-A) at the Military Training Area in Lest, Slovakia. This course aims to introduce responding personnel to the precursors used by criminals and terrorists in the production of homemade explosives, as well as the finished synthesized explosive mixtures. Throughout the training, students learn to identify the hazards associated with mixed or partially mixed precursor chemicals, recognize unknown materials and their related hazards, process a scene for evidentiary purposes, and safely remove and dispose of HME posed hazards.

The development and execution of the HMEC-A course were significantly enhanced by the expertise of instructors from various organizations, including the ATF National Centre for Explosives Training and Research (USA), the 15th Engineer Regiment (CZE), the Belgian EOD Group, the Dutch EOD unit, Thermo Fisher Scientific (USA), the University of Pardubice (Czech Republic), the Latvian TRADOC (LVA), the 905th Centre of Specialized Combat Support (Slovakia), the 51st Training Base of Special Forces (SVK), and the 71st Service Support Battalion (Slovakia).

In total, 36 students from NATO countries (CAN, CZE, DEU, ESP, EST, FIN, GBR, HUN, ITA, LTU, LVA, NLD, NOR, POL, ROU, SVK)  and non-NATO countries (MLT, LUX) participated in the courses. Finally, 35 students successfully completed the training and met the assessment criteria outlined in the NATO EOD COE Quality Assurance policy.

Author: MAJ Marek VLNKA, SVK A
Photo: EOD COE