200 Belgian military leave for Romania to reinforce NATO’s eastern flank

A first group of about 100 soldiers left Melsbroek military airport last Monday. A second group of some 200 Belgian soldiers left today with the same destination: Cincu in central Romania. There, NATO has decided to establish a new combat group to strengthen the eastern flank of the Western military alliance.

"A total of about 300 soldiers are going," says, lieutenant colonel and corps commander Philippe Reyniers. "That group also includes a unit from Luxembourg. Our people will be employed in a French unit of about 1,000 people. They will train not only with them, but also with troops from Poland and Portugal."

Importance

According to the corps commander, not only the Belgian presence but also what the Belgian soldiers will do there is very important. "We’re getting the opportunity to train with partners, who have resources that we don't possess in Belgium," he said.

"It has all developped so quickly in recent years that everyone has their own speciality. The unit I am responsible for specialises in hand-to-hand combat. We literally look the enemy in the eyes."

"The unit needs support for what it can no longer do itself. Support that we already get in Belgium in terms of artillery, for example." The interesting and additional possibility in Romania is cooperation with French tanks, "which is not available in Belgium and which opens up enormous perspectives".

"Working well together is very important," the corps commander continues. "In practice, that means not being surprised. When you work together, all procedures should be clearly delineated and it is best to speak the same language. That's what our people are training for now. When they come back, they are going to have a lot more experience in that field and that will benefit us in day-to-day operations and preparation for other missions."

Finally, for a mission aiming to protect NATO's eastern flank, the location of the operation in Romania is pretty central. Reyniers says the location offers every opportunity for training and major training centres are often located where few people are disturbed.

One-year mission

Alternating with the Netherlands, Belgium is providing a complement to the mainly French units of the combat group already deployed to Romania. The one-year mission will be divided into three four-month periods to keep pace with the rotation of French units.

After the start of the war in Ukraine, the Western military alliance decided to double the number of combat groups on its eastern flank from 4 to 8 and create new combat groups in Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia. The combat groups come in addition to those already in the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) and Poland that have existed since 2017.