The Irish Army will today begin its first overseas group training exercise. Troops will leave for Sweden to join soldiers from four other nations ahead of participation in a new Nordic EU battlegroup.
Almost 100 Irish soldiers will join others from Sweden, Finland, Norway and Estonia in northern Sweden for the next four weeks.
The group, which collectively numbers 2,600, will take part in an exercise across Sweden to improve the inter-operability of the forces ahead of their possible deployment as a battlegroup from January.
From January 1st, the Nordic EU battlegroup will be on standby for six months to be deployed at five days' notice to any conflict zone worldwide.
Some 71 Irish troops, drawn mainly from the Western Brigade, will travel today from Dublin to Gothenburg, where they will join a small advance party of Irish colleagues.
They will receive and mobilise their equipment over coming days, which has been sent to Gothenburg by sea. The equipment includes nine armoured personnel carriers, 11 other vehicles, personal weapons, pyrotechnics and other equipment.
The Irish will share accommodation with the other nationalities at Skovde, 300 miles from Stockholm, until November 1st. The forces will become familiar with the procedures used by the others, and the command structure will be clarified.
:quality(70)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/irishtimes/564969e4-d81d-474d-b348-d41dfe1aeced.png)