Reccex 17 – Sustaining professional expertise presupposes international cooperation
The Deployable CBRN Laboratory equals both a national and international capability.
Located in the Pori Brigade, the Finnish Defence Forces’ national Centre of Excellence in CBRN Defence provides versatile utilisation of CBRN defence equipment and expertise available in all the statutory tasks of the Finnish Defence Forces. International training enhances overall professional expertise and interoperability of troops. Cross border training cooperation also offers means for drilling the providing and receiving of military assistance.
The national Centre of Excellence in CBRN Defence organises the instruction as well as provides the equipment and facilities for the national courses in CBRN defence and rescue. These courses mainly cater for the tuition of salaried personnel and cadets, with nearly 150 course attendants travelling to Säkylä on a yearly basis. The national Centre of Excellence in CBRN Defence comprises the Deployable CBRN Laboratory and the CBRN Company, with the former sustaining high readiness, and the latter focusing on training conscripts for wartime duties and being responsible for specific continuing training of professional soldiers, respectively.
Sustained international cooperating serves as the benchmark for the expertise and training in CBRN defence. As a matter of fact, sustaining high quality expertise in such professional areas that undergo constant updates, including CBRN defence, this international military cooperating represents a necessity that allows for facilitating the Finnish Defence Forces’ capability to support other cooperation authorities as well as provide and receive international military assistance.
– Functioning now within an enhanced opportunities partnership of Nato, Finland is committed to deploying the Deployable CBRN Laboratory abroad at a 60-day notice as part of the Nato Response Force – Response Force Pool, NRF RFP. In case an operation surfaced, both salaried personnel and reservists would be involved. Apart from the said Nato partnership commitment, the Deployable CBRN Laboratory is also enrolled in the UN troop contributing pool, Captain Juha Soutolahti who serves as commander of the Deployable CBRN Laboratory explains.
– As regards executive assistance and inter-authority cooperation, we train with other authorities in Finland on a weekly basis, provide executive assistance and carry out research activities concerning the CBRN branch. When applicable, for instance, in disaster incident settings, our CBRN units provide support in decontaminating substantial numbers of personnel and equipment.
Equipment remains internationally comparable
The national Centre of Excellence in CBRN Defence features both top-level expertise and high-quality equipment. Engaging in international training brings about tangible benefits in the form of enabling the comparing of equipment and validating of procedures as well as partaking in development activities. Moreover, international cooperating also provides a cost effective means for developing own functions.
– Our strength continues to be our extensive competence. Furthermore, our versatile equipment is of high-quality examined both from a national and international viewpoint.
