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Kingdom of Belgium at a glance

Population: 11.267.910 (2016)

Country size: 30 528 Km2

GNP (2021):  507.2 Billion EUR

Defence Budget:  1.54 % of GNP by 2030

Military force: 25.000 (Land, Air and Navy)

Engineer Force: 2458

MILENG COE Staff members: 1

www.Mil.be

​​​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 embedded in TWO Multirole engineer battalions, ONE EOD group, ONE Field Accommodation Unit (FAU) ​and the Engineer School. The TWO Multirole engineer batallions provide both combat and general support directly to the LAND component but the MILENG Staff remains the technical authority when it comes to planning and execution. The EOD Group and FAU are under command of the Chief Engineer and his MILENG Staff and provide support to  ALL Components and Services based on a centralized planning and coordination by the MILENG staff at LANDCOMPONENT level in combination with a decentralized execution.

Future development

​On the road to 2030, the 4th Engineer battalion in AMAY and the 11th Engineer battalion in BURCHT will further evolve to TWO identical multirole units each composed of TWO motorized combat engineer companies and ONE general engineer support company which will directly support our Motorized Brigade. Each motorized combat engineer coy will have:

  • THREE combat engineer platoons. Each platoon will be composed of THREE combat engineer squads and ONE mobility support team.
  • ONE support platoon. This platoon will encompass assault bridging, mounted route clearance capabilities, EOD and EDD (Explosive Detection Dog) capabilities. 

The general engineer support coy will be composed of:

  • ONE multifunctional CBRN platoon which will have TWO deployable sub collection centers (DSCC), TWO sampling & identification teams of biological, chemical and radiological agents (SIBCRA-T) and TWO medium CBRN decontamination squads.
  • ONE vertical construction platoon with FIVE vertical construction and TWO lifting squads.
  • ONE horizontal construction platoon with TWO horizontal construction squads.
  • ONE EARS (Engineer Advanced Search and Recce) Platoon which will have ONE engineer diver squad and ONE Advanced Search squad. 

​The paracommando engineer capability will be reduced to a platoon size element and  will move from the engineer batallions to the Special Operations Regiment where they will be integrated into the TWO paracommando batallions. Each Special Operations Detachement (SOED) will be composed of:

  • ONE Advanced Search Clearance & Breach (ASCB) squad with and Advanced Search, EOD and EDD capability.
  • ONE boat squad which has TWELVE inflatable and foldable motorized boats able to transport ONE paracommando coy in ONE wave.  ​
  • ONE Amphibious Recce Team which has TWO Diver teams.


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 on permanent 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 "trai​n, 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.