The Dragons of the 5th Dragons Regiment have replaced the Turcos of the Forward Land Forces Battle Group (FLFBG) Sevastopol.
When the Belgians, Luxembourgers, and Spaniards arrived in November 2024, the multinational brigade collaborated with them for over four months. One of the main problems of the mandate was integrating this new country, which allowed the battalion to improve NATO’s defensive and deterrent posture on Europe’s eastern border.
A Ceremony to Welcome the Next Generation
On January 21, a ceremony was held in the parade ground at Camp Berthelot in Cincu, with about fifty military and civilian guests in attendance. Colonel Thierry DENECHAUD, commanding officer of the 5th Dragoon Regiment at Mailly-le-Camp, formally assumed command from Colonel Jean Michelin, commander of the EAGLE IX multinational battalion and commanding officer of the 1st Rifle Regiment at Epinal.
In the presence of Brigadier General Loïc GIRARD, Deputy Commander of the Multinational Division South-East (MND-SE) and French national representative, and Brigadier General Ioan-Marian CRISTUREAN, Commander of the Joint National Training Centre (JNTC), Major General Dorin TOMA, Commander of the Multinational Division South-East (MND-SE), presided over the ceremony.
EAGLE IX : a mandate with lots of challenges
The Turcos and their joint forces reinforcements are returning home to their families and friends with a sense of accomplishment. They have effectively met the many challenges of the Eagle IX mandate. Not least of these was the integration of a Spanish company into the FLFBG.
The multinational battalion also conducted DACIAN FALL 24, a major divisional-level exercise. This exercise validated the ability of France, as a framework nation, to project a brigade-level tactical command post at short notice from France to Romania and to check that it was properly integrated into a NATO division.
The battalion’s soldiers took part in numerous joint and combined exercises, as well as joint exercises with their Romanian, Portuguese, Polish and Macedonian counterparts stationed in Romania. The end of the mandate saw the conduct of exercise EAGLE DEFENDER. By leading the unbundling of the multinational battalion, FLFBG Sevastopol demonstrated its ability to deploy as part of the activation of NATO’s regional defence plans.
EAGLE X : a number of challenges
The major challenge of the EAGLE X mandate will be to project a joint brigade from France. To do this, it will conduct exercise DACIAN SPRING 25 in 2025. The multinational battalion stationed in Romania, like the other seven NATO multinational battalions, will thus confirm its ability to project itself as a forward force within a brigade in accordance with the commitments made at the Madrid Summit in 2022. In order to maintain the permanent deterrent posture, it will train in all its capabilities: artillery, engineers, infantry and cavalry with all the components of the battalion.
Focus on the Multinational Battalion
Since the beginning of the Ukrainian crisis, NATO has been committed to defending Romania. First with the deployment of the NATO Response Force Spearhead Battalion on 28th February 2022, then with the permanent deployment on 1st May 2022 of the Multinational Battle Group commanded by France.
Under the command of the Multinational Division Southeast (MND-SE) based in Bucharest, the Multinational Battalion Cincu currently has around 1,250 personnel. Its mission is to strengthen the operational capabilities of the troops deployed, to demonstrate the determination of NATO and Europe to counter any threat to Romania and to integrate fully into the country’s defence plans.
As the lead nation of the multinational battalion deployed in Romania, France, working permanently alongside its Belgian, Luxembourg and Spanish partners, is demonstrating its commitment to strengthening NATO’s defensive and deterrent posture on Europe’s eastern flank.