The 3rd Writing Session for AJP-3.18 Review
The Transformation Support Department (TSD) from the NATO Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Centre of Excellence (COE) organized the 3rd Writing Session for AJP-3.18 “Allied Joint Doctrine for Explosive Ordnance Disposal Support to Operations” review for the period 22-24 June 2022, in Piestany, Slovakia. This publication describes an important area of expertise of Military Engineering (MILENG) function and provides valuable guidance for operational level commanders and staff for planning, conducting and monitoring EOD support to joint operations in the most professional manner.
The Doctrine task for AJP-3.18 review was approved by the Military Committee Joint Standardization Board (MCJSB) in February 2021, based on the results of the Virtual Data Fusion Workshop (V-DFW) organized by Allied Command Transformation (ACT) Joint Doctrine Coherence (JDC) Section between 09-10 December 2020.
The previous writing sessions (1st and 2nd) were conducted as online events (CISCO-WebEx) at the EOD COE Headquarters due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. This time we were able to organize the writing session as a hybrid event (face to face and online).
The task of writing a doctrine generally agreed by all nations and NATO entities is always challenging, since every nation has different capabilities and resources. The Writing Team managed to deconflict all the comments received for the Study Draft 2 (15 critical, 37 substantive and 215 editorial), due to active involvement of all the participants. I would like to highlight the substantive support of the representatives of Military Engineering (MILENG) Centre of Excellence (COE), Countering-Improvised Explosive Devices (C-IED) Centre of Excellence (COE), Slovakian Armed Forces, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), United Kingdom, and, of course, EOD COE members.
The next step for developing this doctrine is creating the Harmonization Draft (September 2022), followed by the Ratification Draft (December 2022). Based on Allied Joint Doctrine Campaign Plan, the target date for promulgation is April 2023.
Text: MAJ Adrian PETER (ROU-A)
Photos: MSG Peter BULKO (SVK-A)
