International Exercise Maple Arch 2014 running in Poland on September 8-19 in Poland entered active phase. The operational plan generated after a week-long planning process is undergoing a suitability test on Joint Conflict and Tactical Simulation System (JCATS). The participants of the exercise underway for the second week are testing the operational plans they have made, and respond to events and changing situations generated in advance by EXCON personnel.
The advanced JCATS gives an opportunity for the military to test planning and command skills in a simulated environment and terrain according to a reality-based scenario without the necessity of deploying actual military units.
From 15 to 20 military events are planned to be presented to the training audience to keep the exercise intensely going. The fictional environment will imitate flows of refugees obstructing movement of the fictional forces. Considerable attention will be paid to the abilities of specialists of separate areas to communicate with local authorities and to make decisions in unexpected situations. Good communications in the exercise is one of the key functions for the completion of tasks, therefore an adequate focus will be given to communications procedures and possible communications disturbances.
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The Lithuanian Armed Forces are represented in Exercise Maple Arch 2014 by ground forces personnel from the Grand Duchess Birutė Uhlan Battalion and the 6th Territorial Unit of the Resurrection Military District of the National Defence Volunteer Force.
The international exercise Maple Arch is organised and led by the Canadian Armed Forces in the framework of a Canada-sponsored Military Training Assistance Program. The exercise is hosted on the soil of one of the participating countries. Maple Arch 2015 will take place in Lithuania.
Photo credit: Captain Alfonsas Bičkus
