The Counter-Improvised Explosive Devices – Centre of Excellence (C-IED COE) participates in the exercise Valiant Blaster, supporting the training programme of the Spanish Marine Brigade.

27 November 2024.- From 17 to 22 November, the C-IED COE participated in the exercise Valiant Blaster, held annually in Cádiz.

Organized by the Spanish Marine Brigade as part of their training programme, the exercise is aimed at maintaining and improving the EOD capabilities needed in the fight against IEDs.

The exercise included EOD units from Spanish Armed Forces (Navy, Army and Air and Space Forces) and Allied countries, as well as personnel from diverse law enforcement agencies. Its main objective has been to promote, strengthen and increase interoperability between the various EOD units, as well as to share TTPs and best practices, with special emphasis on Defeat the Device within the three pillars of the C-IED fight.

The C-IED COE, as a reference centre in the discipline, has supported the exercise with the participation of experts from the “Defeat the Device” branch. It has also provided participants with an updated conference on the different emerging threats in the various theatres of operations where the Spanish Armed Forces and Allied Armies currently carry out their missions.

Through the preparation of realistic scenarios, thanks to the data collected in areas of operations, activities have been carried out where participants have faced a wide variety of IEDs (commanded, activated by the victim, suicide vests, car bombs, among others) and have been able to put into practice the usefulness of various TTPs, integrating EOD practices, level 1 technical exploitation and the work of the WIT team and the CCEOD in the intelligence cycle.

Participating in these initiatives, the C-IED COE shows, once again, its commitment with the provision of updated training, its availability to collaborate with other units and its role as a referent in the fight against IEDs.

30 October 2024.- From 21 to 25 October, the Counter-Improvised Explosive Devices – Centre of Excellence has organized a new iteration of the C-IED Staff Officers Course at its facilities in Hoyo de Manzanares, Madrid.

Opened by its Deputy Director, American Colonel Christopher P. Bartos, the course has gathered 24 students from 12 nations.

As in previous editions, its aim is to provide C-IED Staff Officers and Senior Staff Assistants, at upper tactical and operational levels, with the knowledge and skills to facilitate, manage and lead the C-IED effort.

Experts from the CoE have led the training that has mainly focused on the threat, the doctrine and the operational planning. Through the completion of theoretical sessions and practical exercises in a fictitious scenario, attendees have been able to debate, share experiences and exchange knowledge and good practices.

Next iteration of the course will be held in the first quarter of 2025.

The NATO Accredited Counter-Improvised Explosive Devices - Centre of Excellence (C-IED COE) organizes the Technical Exploitation in Water Environment 2024 (TEWE24) Seminar

22 November 2024.- From 19 to 21 November, the C-IED COE organized the fourth edition of its Technical Exploitation in Water Environment Seminar (TEWE24), held at its facilities in Hoyo de Manzanares, Madrid.   

The Seminar was officially opened by the C-IED COE director, Colonel Javier Corbacho Margallo, who acknowledged the presence of all the attendees and briefers, especially highlighting the cooperation of the Spanish law enforcement agencies in the execution of the trials analyzed during the Seminar.

One of the attendees was Mr. Sam Henze, from NATO’s Innovation, Hybrid and Cyber Division, who underlined the importance of the technical exploitation discipline for the Allies’ interoperability and the support to operations.

This fourth edition has counted on the participation of the Mine counter-measures Diving Unit, Spanish National Police and Civil Guard, as well as with experts from the C-IED COE, NATO and Swedish organizations related to technical exploitation.

During the three day-Seminar, experts in technical exploitation from Belgium, Canada, Germany, Greece, Spain, Sweden, Türkiye and the United States have gathered in an environment favourable to share expertise and knowledge and to foster the improvement of procedures and the interagency collaboration.

Prior to the celebration of the Seminar, several exercises and trials were conducted in order to assess the effects of IED in water environments, both on the surface and under water. Such effects and their exploitation in order to obtain information were analyzed during the Seminar. The sessions focused on physicochemical reactions, case analysis, infrastructures design, threat analysis, and collection and preservation of potential evidence.

15 November 2024 - The Counter-Improvised Explosive Devices – Centre of Excellence held, from 04 to 08 November, the DOMEX (Document and Media Exploitation) “Train the Trainers” Course at its facilities in Hoyo de Manzanares, Madrid.

Organized and managed by C-IED CoE staff and sponsored by the NATO Innovation, Hybrid and Cyber Division, the Course has received 8 instructors of 3 nations (Greece, Spain and United States), including members of different armies, Law Enforcement Agencies and civilians.  

The C-IED CoE has been working on Technical Exploitation supporting Attack the Networks since its creation in 2010. Back then, it was the only international organization who offered training in DOMEX.

In recent years, demand for DOMEX courses has increased, as the Allies have realized the importance of extracting and sharing information from documents and digital devices (especially UAVs and mobile phones) found in theatres of operations. That is why the C-IED CoE supports NATO members and partner nations through the DOMEX courses (basic and advanced) with several iterations per year.

With this idea in mind, the DOMEX “Train the Trainers” Course was organized, in order to improve the instructors’ training, increase the pool of SMEs and help nations develop their own DOMEX capabilities.

During this one-week course, the previous syllabus was reviewed, improved (through a lessons-learned process) and adapted to the ever-changing global scenario. From the technical point of view, attendees were trained in advanced extraction techniques (Chip-Off) applied to damaged devices that cannot be processed using standard procedures. They also received specific training in recently acquired digital forensic tools.

As the instructors’ technical skills have been enhanced, future DOMEX courses will benefit from this advanced knowledge.

Courses will resume during the second quarter of 2025.