19-07-2025
Defence Forces experts train Nato militaries to counter homemade bomb threats
Ireland's Defence Forces hosted a Nato workshop this week on countering the threat posed to militaries and civilians from homemade explosives.
Bomb experts from Australia and New Zealand joined major Nato countries, such as US, Canada, UK, France, and Germany, at the Ordnance School in the Curragh.
A total of 43 participants from 10 countries took part, including Nato partners and non-Nato partners.
In a statement, the Defence Forces said the fact that Ireland held the third Nato Home-made Explosives Workshop was 'a positive reflection on the technical expertise of the Ordnance Corp personnel'.
It said this corp has performed Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) and Counter Improvised Explosive (CIED) tasks during operational deployments.
'This workshop is an opportunity to share knowledge and enhance learning in the area of homemade explosives to meet current and future security challenges that will compliment already existing countermeasures to defeat the asymmetric threat posed by homemade explosives,' it said.
The workshop covered the identification and safe disposal of homemade devices and the co-ordination of military and civilian law enforcement agencies, including in the area of counter-terrorism and the protection of troops and civilians.
Lieutenant Colonel Conor King General Secretary of RACO, the officers' association, said: 'The Irish Defence Forces Ordnance Corps is internationally renowned as a leader in EOD and CIED, as well as other asymmetric counter measures, from marauding terrorist attack to homemade explosives.'
He said the Ordnance School in the Defence Forces Training College has attracted experts from defence, law enforcement, and the scientific community from all over the world for many years.
'The skill sets within the DF Ordnance Corps takes many years of training, education and operational experience to cultivate. We must make every effort to retain these specialists.'
