Belgian MILENG capabilities as multirole specialists on the road to 2030

Belgian Defense Forces have always focused on a contribution with well trained and specialized units tailored to the mission. A modern Defense is one of the essential security and safety components to guarantee credibility on national and international level. This is actually one of the main guidelines for recent developments within the Belgian Defense Forces on the road to 2030, taking into account all the challenges related to financial, human and material resources.

MILENG in Belgium encompasses Engineer, EOD and CBRN Defense capabilities. The main part of manpower, material and equipment is inbedded in TWO Multirole engineer battalions, ONE EOD group and ONE Field accommodation unit. They provide both combat and general support to ALL Components and Services based on a centralized planning and coordination by a Chief Engineer and MILENG staff at LANDCOMPONENT level in combination with a decentralized execution.

Future developement

On the road to 2030, the 4th Engineer battalion in AMAY and the 11th Engineer battalion in BURCHT will further evolve to TWO identical and multirole units each composed of ONE motorized combat engineer coy, ONE light combat engineer coy and ONE CBRN & general engineer support coy. Each motorized combat engineer coy will have THREE combat engineer platoons and ONE mobility support platoon. The motorized combat engineer platoon will be composed of ONE explosive detection dog team, ONE EOD squad and THREE combat engineer squads of which ONE will be advanced search capable. The mobility support platoon will encompass heavy mobility, bridging and mounted route clearance capabilities. The light combat engineer coy’s will have TWO Combat engineer platoons (same composition as the motorized combat engineer platoons) and ONE amphibious support platoon. The amphibious support platoon will encompass TWO engineer amphibious reconnaissance and search teams and TWELVE inflatable and foldable motorized boats (150Hp) able to transport ONE combined arms coy in ONE wave. Both motorized combat engineer coys will mainly focus on supporting the motorized Brigade and its FIVE motorized battalions, while both light combat engineer coys will mainly focus on supporting the Special operations command, its Special forces group and its TWO Ranger battalions. The light and the motorized combat engineer platoons have exactly the same composition and as embedded in the same battalions, allowing them to be educated and trained on the same vehicles, equipment and weapon systems. The new CBRN & general engineer support coy will be composed of ONE multifunctional CBRN platoon, ONE vertical construction platoon and ONE horizontal construction platoon. Each multifunctional CBRN platoon has TWO deployable sub collection centers (DSCC), ONE hazardous site evaluation team (HSE-T) and TWO sampling & identification teams of biological, chemical and radiological agents (SIBCRA-T) and TWO medium CBRN decontamination squads. Each vertical construction platoon will be composed of FIVE vertical construction and TWO lifting squads while each horizontal construction platoon have TWO horizontal construction squads.

The Belgian EOD group has multiple capabilities. The unit is responsible for the clearance and destruction of explosive ordnance of conventional, chemical and toxical ammunitions from both World Wars on national territory. Some EOD(IEDD) teams are permanently stand by for intervention on national territory in support of the Federal Police. EOD(IEDD) teams are also engaged for EOD operations abroad in support of ALL Components, providing education, training and force protection to own and to foreign troops.

The mission of the Field accommodation unit (FAU) is to provide the necessary deployable force infrastructure to all Belgian units deployed abroad and this regardless of component or service. This unit can provide all necessary accommodation assets, power supply, force protection equipment, containers (offices) for a battle group up to 1200 deployed soldiers including air or land staff and ONE role two (MED).

Operations

In the last 25 years the Belgian Armed Forces were engaged in a wide range of operations worldwide, from Africa to the Middle East. Engineers, EOD and CBRN specialists participated in crisis response, reconstruction, humanitarian assistance, demining and "train, advise & assist" operations all around the world, contributing to as well NATO as to UN and EU operations or supporting partnership countries in Africa and more recently in the Baltic States.

Since refugees came massively to EUROPE and since the terrorist attacks in France and Belgium, all MILENG units have been heavely involved in homeland operations. in order to support the Federal police and the Ministry of Internal Affairs in providing safety and security to the population and to national critical infrastructure and in providing accommodation and hosting for hundreds of refugees. Specialized military engineering capabilities like EOD, Military search and CBRN provide services to support this tasks. More than ever, interagency (civil-military) cooperation is the key for succes for the future and this as well at the national as at the international level.