Home-Made Explosives Courses-Advanced in Military Training Area Lešť

During first two weeks of July 2019 the EOD COE organized two iterations of the Homemade Explosives Course – Advanced. The courses were performed with the assistance of Subject Matter Experts from US Department of Justice Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF),  Thermo Fischer Scientific (USA), EODD Company (NLD), Alluviam (USA), Institute of Energetic Materials (University of Pardubice, CZE), EOD Group (BEL), 15th Engineering Regiment (CZE) and the National Centre of EOD and CBRN (SVK).

The courses were held on the premises of MTA Lešť. The courses were performed from July 1 to July 5, 2019 and from July 8 to July 12, 2019, respectively. A total of 34 participants from 21 NATO countries were trained: Austria (1), Belgium (4), Croatia (1),the Czech Republic (2), Lithuania (1), Latvia (1), Finland (1), Germany (4), Great Britain (1), Greece (1), Hungary (1), the Netherlands (2), Norway (2), Poland (3), Romania (1),  Slovakia (3), Slovenia (1), Spain (1), Switzerland (1), Sweden (1), the USA (1).

The course consisted of theoretical lectures and practical training scenarios. The theoretical lessons were conducted with the great support of SMEs from the ATF and University of Pardubice chemists. The rest of the lectures were given by the representatives of contracted companies (Alluviam, Thermo Fisher Scientific, QinetiQ) and EOD COE members. Vast majority of theoretical lectures took place every morning. The primary aim was to introduce students  various homemade explosives (HME) families and to make them more familiar with their properties, availability and processes of manufacture. 

The practical part took place 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. After meeting all the required criteria, the participants received certificates of the course completion during the graduation ceremony. In their evaluation forms, the trainees expressed satisfaction with the content of the course as well as high regard for the course execution.