Home-Made Explosives Course Advanced level in Military Training Area, Lešť

From the 5th to 9th of July 2021 the NATO EOD COE organized the Homemade Explosives Course – Advanced. The course was performed with the assistance of Subject Matter Experts from Thermo Fischer Scientific (USA), EODD Company (NLD), Institute of Energetic Materials (University of Pardubice, CZE), EOD Group (BEL), 15th Engineering Regiment (CZE), the National Centre of EOD and CBRN (SVK) and the Engineer Battalion (SVK).

The course was conducted at the premises of MTA Lešť. In total, 16 participants from 8 NATO countries were trained. The course consisted of theoretical lectures and practical training scenarios. The theoretical lessons were conducted with the great support of University of Pardubice chemist.

The rest of the lectures were given by the representative of Thermo Fisher Scientific and the EOD COE instructors. Vast majority of theoretical lectures took place every morning. The primary aim was to introduce various homemade explosives (HME) families and to familiarise students with their properties/characteristics, availability and processes of manufacturing.

The practical parts were conducted every afternoon and evening and included improvised detonators class, HME laboratories demonstration, HME effects demonstration, mixing of HME by students and processing clandestine laboratories in permissive and non-permissive environments. During the entire practical phase all trainees were divided into two syndicates, in which they acted either as team leaders or team members with plenty of various duties to perform. 

All participants successfully passed the written test and practical examination, which concluded their training effort. Upon meeting all the required criteria, the participants received certificates of the course completion during the graduation ceremony. In students’ evaluation feedbacks, the trainees expressed satisfaction with the content of the course as well as with the high quality of the course execution.