Commandos train CQB in preparation for 8th FND for RCA

14 September 2020

The readiness of the Commands and the respective 8th FND for the Central African Republic is in its final phase. The previous missions, and the one that is taking place, demonstrated the importance of being able to operate in the villages and cities of that country. Armed groups have taken refuge in various locations where the operations often end up in searches house by house, the which significantly increases the danger for the military involved.

Although, unfortunately, there is still no real fire area in Portugal that allows adequate training for this type of operations, Commands have access to several training areas with built-up areas (MOUT-Military Operations in Urban Terrain) where they can train with volley shot. This time we followed his training, more specific in what concerns the CQB (Close Quarters Battle), in an improvised area that this force uses regularly, and in the shooting range of Alcochete.

This training focused mainly on taking positions on the road (pedestrians and automobiles), in order to allow the military to penetrate the buildings and thus search them and eliminate any threat that presented themselves to them. The Commanders placed special emphasis on penetrating inside buildings, as well as the dangers that could arise from this complex maneuver.

The positioning of the military, its very compact movement, the “flooding” of each compartment with the military in the right positions in order to avoid fraticid fire, and the execution of accurate shots in order to achieve only what was intended without risk of collateral damage , is extremely important when it comes to this type of training.

Also when it comes to providing support for these maneuvers, from a global perspective of the operation, training can be complex. While the military moves in these areas, the dangers are not just inside the buildings, the roofs, the IED threat, improvised sniper positions, check points reinforced with PKM or RPG, among others.

Therefore, the Commandos took the opportunity to train the incorporation of vehicles, when possible, in the support and protection maneuver. Also, snipers, grenadiers and Light and Medium Machine Gun sharpeners play a very important role in covering the movements of the military who clean house by house.

The CQB Exercises culminated in a major Exercise that involved the entire maneuvering company, TACP of the Portuguese Air Force, as well as the remaining elements of the 8th FND, including Pandur and VAMTAC vehicles.