The minister of National Defense, Angel Tilvar, and the Chief of the Defense Staff, general Daniel Petrescu, visited the soldiers who make up the Romanian air defense detachment Sky Guardians from the NATO Battle Group, deployed in Bemowo Piskie Training Area (BPTA), says a press release from the Ministry of National Defence (MApN), according to Agerpres.

As a sign of appreciation for the way of fulfilling the assigned missions, at the end of the meeting, minister Angel Tilvar presented plaques with the heraldic insignia of the MApN to major Florian-Razvan Ion and captain Alexandra Buta-Leta, and the Chief of Defense conferred the Emblem of Honor of the State Major of Defense to platoon-adjutant Iulian-Cristian Veliscu and the Emblem of Merit in the Service of Peace 2nd class to captain Victor-Cosmin Merin and corporal 3rd class Florin-Adrian Badeci.

The official delegation discussed with the 103 anti-aircraft defenders, who are in the middle of the mission, in the 12th Romanian rotation in Poland.

In this context, the Minister of National Defense emphasized that „the positive image that the Romanian Army has among the allied armies has strengthened, since 2017 and thanks to the joint missions and the direct interaction of the thousands of Romanian anti-aircraft defenders with the thousands of allied comrades from the contributing countries to the Polish Battle Group”.

For his part, the Chief of the Defense Staff emphasized the importance that the contingent has for the Romanian defense institution, both in terms of the direct participation of a national defensive element in the allied security architecture on the eastern flank, and in terms of cooperation with the defence institution in Poland.

The Sky Guardians Air Defense Detachment, generated by the 288th Air Defense Battalion, was deployed in October 2022 in the Bemowo Piskie Training Area, with the mission of ensuring the Enhanced Forward Presence on the North-Eastern Flank of the Alliance (enhanced Forward Presence), within the NATO Battle Group in Poland. During the six-month mission, the anti-aircraft gunners participate in exercises and training activities alongside American, British, Croatian and Polish comrades, with the aim of improving cohesion and increasing the level of interoperability among NATO member troops.

Agerpres