Vienna (OTS) – The “Protective Shield 24” exercise is the largest military exercise in ten years. From June 10th to 21st, 2024, 7,500 soldiers and civilian employees will be training in the federal states of Burgenland, Lower Austria, Styria and Carinthia, also with the participation of soldiers from Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sweden, Croatia and Montenegro. The purpose of the exercise is to prepare forces for tasks in a protective operation for military national defense and to check the operational readiness of forces within the framework of international crisis management. The Federal Army is practicing to protect transit routes, critical points and important objects on Austrian territory across four federal states.
Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner: “With ‘Protective Shield 24’, the largest exercise in more than a decade began this week. Large-scale exercises like this are necessary for a smoothly functioning national defense. The first week showed how important such exercises are in order to live up to our responsibility as a “security guarantor for the armed forces”. I wish all exercise participants a mission-related and accident-free exercise – also for the second week of exercise.”
The first week
“As commander of the land forces and special operations forces, I am proud of the performance of the troops and staff. The first week showed that the forces deployed have mastered their craft, but have not practiced in a comparable setting for a long time. The exercise ‘Protective Shield 24’ is the first step in restoring the credibility of the Austrian armed forces. But we are far from reaching our goal. Cooperation in national and international crisis and conflict management requires that our internal processes function properly,” said the overall exercise leader and commander of the land and special operations forces, Major General Martin Dorfer.
In addition to the formation, the focus of the first week of exercises was the integration of the militia forces as well as the preparation and training of initial scenarios.
The Federal Army plays a pioneering role in combating current threats and hybrid threats. Self-sufficiency is an essential part of crisis prevention and resilience. Some of the national and international forces live in a completely self-sufficient tent camp during the 14-day exercise. On an area of around 240,000 m², the equivalent of 33 football fields, the field camp offers space for 750 soldiers – with all the facilities necessary for this. A field hospital of the German Bundeswehr, which is run in the field camp together with Swedish soldiers, deserves special attention.
In the second week, the prepared scenarios will become more severe, which means the challenges for the deployed soldiers will also increase.
Note to the public:
In this context, we would like to point out that armed people can also appear in foreign uniforms or in civilian clothes as part of the exercise scenarios
Free photos can be found at https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBtH9p
Questions & Contact:
Information and press office “Protective Shield 24”
protection.ipst@bmlv.gv.at
Tel.: +43 664-622-3076