Northern Challenge is NATO’s top Improvised Explosive Device Disposal (IEDD) exercise, hosted by the Icelandic Coast Guard in Keflavik. It involves Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) forces from 17 countries coming together to practise responding to real-life terrorist incidents involving improvised and military explosive devices.
The Royal New Zealand Navy has been sending MEOD teams to Northern Challenge since 2021. Matataua’s Commanding Officer, Commander Greg Camburn, has been to two iterations of this exercise. He says Northern Challenge brings together EOD units from across the NATO alliance and partner nations, testing their interoperability and problem-solving abilities to neutralise complex explosive threats, in a realistic operational environment.
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Source: Royal New Zealand Navy
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