site.btaDacian Lynx 16 Exercise Tests Capabilities of Bulgarian, Romanian NFIUs

Dacian Lynx 16 Exercise Tests Capabilities of Bulgarian, Romanian NFIUs

Sofia, May 9 (BTA) - A NATO Dacian Lynx 16 (DALX16) exercise will be taking place until May 13 in Sofia and Bucharest.

More than 250 military personnel from 11 NATO countries are taking part in the computer-assisted exercise.

Major Ivailo Ivanov of the Bulgarian NATO Force Integration Unit (NFIU) told journalists that the exercise plays out a scenario for response to a crisis under Article 5 (for collective defence) of the Washington Treaty.

DALX 16 will consist of a command post exercise and computer assisted exercise for operational and tactical level staff training. The exercise is meant to additionally demonstrate the achievement of initial operational capability requirements in accordance with the Multinational Division-Southeast headquarters' implementation plan, and to prove the ability to command and control the Bulgarian and Romanian NFIUs.

The exercise will also demonstrate Bulgarian and Romanian NFIUs' ability to plan and conduct reception, staging, and onward movement and integration of assigned NATO forces.

The Bulgarian NFIU achieved initial operational capability on January 2016 in addition to ones in Romania, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.