Armenia returns to Combined Endeavor for ninth year

Photo By Staff Sgt. Ryan Whitney | A member of the Armed Forces of Armenia monitors network activity during Combined Endeavor 2011, Sept. 10, 2011, in Grafenwoehr, Germany. Combined Endeavor is a multi-nation exercise involving nearly 40 NATO, Partnership for Peace and strategic security partners, and is designed to increase interoperability and communications processes between the participating nations.  

BW, GERMANY

09.10.2011

Story by Staff Sgt. Ryan Whitney 

Combined Endeavor

GRAFENWOEHR, Germany- For the ninth consecutive year, members of the Armed Forces of Armenia returned to Grafenwoehr, Germany Sept. 8, to participate in Combined Endeavor 2011, the largest collaborative military communications exercise in the world.

Combined Endeavor is a multi-nation exercise involving nearly 40 NATO, Partnership for Peace and strategic security partners, and is designed to increase interoperability and communications processes between the participating nations.

“This exercise provides a good opportunity for us to share knowledge and experience between participating countries,” said Armenian Lt. Col. Aram Gevorgyan, Armenian delegation chief. “Our ability to operate alongside allied nations in times of natural disasters or anti-terrorism operations has been greatly strengthened by our participation in this exercise over the past years.”

Initially an observer of the exercise during CE 2003, the role the Armed Forces of Armenia has played in the joint endeavor has grown as they integrated more with other participating countries.

In 2007 Armenia hosted and operated the remote site that participants of Combined Endeavor in Germany communicated with via satellite communication systems. For the past two years the Eastern European country has hosted planning conferences, in which representatives from the various participating countries convened to discuss topics and exercises to use during Combined Endeavor.

Gevorgyan said although the key goal of the exercise is to share communication techniques and technologies, the relationships and bonds formed working alongside other nations has been equally valuable.

“Strengthening our abilities in the professional sphere is an important aspect of this exercise,” he said. “The personal communication between the representatives of more than 40 other countries helps create and fortify the bonds of friendship between our countries is just as important.”

• Date Taken: 09.10.2011
• Date Posted: 09.10.2011 09:25
• Story ID: 76806
• Location: BW, DE