Visit of the Canadian Armed Forces delegation at the NATO EOD COE
On the occasion of the 68th NATO EOD Working Group, representatives from the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) were invited to visit the NATO Explosive Ordnance Disposal Centre of Excellence (EOD COE). On March 17, 2025, Colonel Frantisek MIHALOVIC (NATO EOD COE Director) welcomed the CAF delegation and initiated discussions on collaboration between the NATO EOD COE and the CAF EOD representatives. During the visit, Colonel Mihalovic gave to CAF overview of the NATO EOD COE, including its mission, vision, long-term objectives, and the Centre’s available products.
Due to a strong interest in Education and Training (E&T), Lieutenant Colonel Alexander HUGYAR, Ph.D. elaborated on NATO’s policies regarding E&T, deliverables in Education & Individual Training (E&IT), contributions to Collective Training & Exercises (CT&E), and the Quality Assurance principles. He highlighted the Centre’s significant achievements e.g. Unconditional accreditation in NATO’s E&IT QA, NATO certified courses delivery and correlation with NATO’s identified military disciplines.
The CAF continued to hand out information about the exercise “Ardent Defender” (Ex AD), which allows EOD and IEDD teams to practice scenarios that enable neutralization and safe disposal of explosive devices and countering the employed threat networks. Following productive discussion, participants agreed to initiate cooperation for the benefit of CT&E. A key focus will be the upcoming Ex AD 2025, which will facilitate NATO EOD COE instructors with practicing EOD tasks management within a multinational environment. Additionally, the Centre offered to potential CAF students several opportunities to attend the NATO-certified courses that knowledge is accompanied by experts from military, academia and industry.
Text: LTC Alexander HUGYAR, Ph.D.
Photo: NATO EOD COE archive
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