MILITARY ENGINEERING IN TURKISH ARMED FORCES
MAIN MILITARY ENGINEERING SUPPORT TASKS
The task of engineer troops on the battlefield is to mitigate the effects of naturel and man-made obstacles to enable freedom of movement and maneuver, to slow or divert the enemy, via dynamic obstacles, to enhance the protectful of friendly forces and to execute general engineering tasks. These tasks are briefly as follows:
ENHANCE MOBILITY OF FRIENDLY FORCES
The capability to assist combat mobility comprises the following elements:
- Mitigate the Effects of Obstacles and Breaching,
- Construction and Maintenance of Combat Routes,
- Engineer Support to Forward Helipad Construction,
COUNTER MOBILITY
The primary purpose of counter mobility is to slow or divert the enemy and to increase weapon effectiveness. The engineer tasks that support counter mobility operations include those that construct, emplace or detorate obstacles and those that track, repair and protect obstacles. Those tasks are often performed for manevuer forces that are in close combat which require combat engineer units.
FORCE PROTECTION (SURVIVABILITY)
This capability of engineering units is the sum of all efforts to protect personnel, equipment, facilities and information from combinations of operational threats and environmental hazards in order to conserve and enhance fighting power.
GENERAL ENGINEERING TASKS
Apart from mobility, counter mobility and survivability tasks, General engineering is one of the other musts in the field required for maneuver troops. These tasks also include logistic support and fire-fighting capability.
MILITARY ENGINEERING IN TURKISH AIR FORCE
TURAF depends on fixed facilities due to its function in national defense. Therefore, it is a permanent requirement to have experts in military engineering staff for the sustainment and construction of facilities. Turkish Air Force Engineering units keep all buildings and facilities serviceable, especially those which are directly/indirectly have an impact on the operations.
- Taking measures of fire protection and fire fighting for both structures and air vehicles,
- Mitigating adverse weather effects such as sweeping foreign objects and fighting against snow.
- Major repairs and renewal activities of Air Force Facilities are undertaken by Air Engineering
During the combat operation, the most important issue in airfield damage repair is rapid runway repair (R3). Within this extent R3 teams perform operational support by activating minimum operational strip on the runway to permit continuation of air operations. In case of an air attack, continually repair to keep facilities active depending on their priorities, implement demolition or hiding plans if necessary.
Picture Gallery
Photo 1 : Military Engineering unit during the mine field clearance activities.
Photo 2,3,4 : River crossing exercise by a floating bridge company equipted with SAMUR, Turkish manufactured Amphibious Assault Bridge.
Photo 5 : Turkish manufacured Armored Amphibious Combat Earthmover, AZMİM.
Photo 6 : Terrain Consolidation Equipment allows vehicles to move with ease over diffucult terrain conditions such as sand, snow, mud, swamp and ice, helping to speed mobility.
Photo 7 : Dry Support Bridge (DSB) during a drill.
Photo 8 : A Turkish military engineering unit equipted and trained specially for Natural Disaster Aid tasks.
Photo 9 : Air Force Engineering units during a firefighting drill.
Photo 10 : Air Force Engineering units during construction of a runway in peacetime.
Photos 11 : Air Force Engineering units during airfield damage repairing process.
