site.btaForeign Military Personnel Observes Capabilities of 55th Engineer Regiment in Belene

The 55th Engineer Regiment in Belene demonstrated its capabilities as part of the Trimontium 2024 command and staff exercise of the Infrastructure Engineering for Logistics Multinational Integrated Logistic Unit (IEL MILU), which is being held in the Danube city between May 27 and 30. 

Military personnel from the armed forces of Bulgaria, Romania, Georgia and Croatia are participating in the exercise. After 2014 and 2018, this is the third command and staff exercise of the formation hosted by Bulgaria.

The topic of the exercise is related to providing common engineering support in the composition of a multinational mechanized brigade in overcoming the consequences of disasters. The goal is to perform engineering tasks in general engineering maintenance, Lt. Col. Vasil Dimitrov from the Land Forces Command told BTA.

The IEL MILU company was established in November 2007 in Brussels following a Memorandum signed by the Ministers of Defence of Bulgaria, Romania, Georgia and Croatia, with Romania as the lead country. The company is composed of a headquarters element, a mechanised bridges' platoon and an electro-technical platoon from the 91st Engineer Battalion for general support of the 55th Engineer Regiment of the Bulgarian Army; a road construction platoon and a liaison unit from Romania; a horizontal structures platoon from Croatia; a liaison unit and a team for detection, transportation and destruction of unexploded ordnance and improvised explosive devices from Georgia.

The IEL MILU was established to participate in NATO-led operations as part of the Multinational Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF). Its primary task is to provide general engineering support for the operations' logistics. Command and Staff Exercises are conducted annually to demonstrate the capabilities of host nation formations, the Defence Ministry's press release further reads.