CPL BRAD UPSHALL
Canada leads the charge on multinational Explosive Ordnance exercise
By Lt Jerome Downey
On October 17, 2024, 5th Canadian Division Support Base Gagetown in Oromocto, New Brunswick hosted more than 400 members of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), alongside soldiers from nine partner nations, for Exercise Ardent Defender 2024 – a Canadian Army-led international counter-explosive exercise.
Over two weeks, Exercise Ardent Defender 2024 brought together the best and brightest in Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) from across Canada, Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. The purpose of the exercise was to validate skills, enhance interoperability and demonstrate the alliance between partner nations’ collective security efforts to deter potential adversaries’ use of conventional and unconventional explosives.
Specialty skills, such as detecting and countering explosive ordinance, help ensure that troops can live, move, and fight on the battlefield safely.
Brigadier-General (BGen) Mark Parsons, Commander 5th Canadian Division, emphasized the importance of building readiness capacity.
“The realities of modern warfare drive the design, equipment, and training of the Canadian Army,” said BGen Parsons. “As we continue to modernize our force and build readiness capacity, the value of Exercise Ardent Defender in preparing Canada and its international partners for current and future threats cannot be understated.”
CPL BRAD UPSHALL
Responsible for the planning, coordination, and execution of the Canadian iteration of Exercise Ardent Defender, the CAF Joint Counter Explosive Threat organization is the authority for enabling and synchronizing actions to counter explosive threats on behalf of the CAF. This organization maintains relationships with NATO allies that share a similar strategic mandate to increase interoperability and enhance each other’s EOD and field exploitation capabilities.
Building trust amongst allied nations and enhancing interoperability was paramount to the exercise’s success. These objectives and goals were enabled by a team of hard-working CAF members, led by Major Vincent Dupont, Exercise Director of Exercise Ardent Defender 2024, who oversaw the preparation, planning, and execution of the training exercise.
Exercise Ardent Defender is one of the longest continuous training exercises within NATO, bringing together nations with diverse backgrounds united by a common purpose of professional excellence, collective safety, and global security. This year’s exercise was successfully wrapped up on October 30th, 2024.
