Inauguration ceremony
of NATO's Multinational Chemical, Biological,
Radiological and Nuclear Defence Battalion
in Liberec, Czech Republic on 3 December 2003

Background NATO's Multinational Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defence Battalion Multimedia 03/12/2003 - Czech Rep. High resolution photos of the standup activities of the CBRN Defence Battalion in Liberec, Czech Republic Opinion 03/12/2003 - Czech Rep. Speech by Miroslav Kostelka, Minister of Defence of the Czech Republic at the Launch of NATO Multinational CBRN Battalion

SHAPE, Belgium - NATO’s new high-readiness, multi-national Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Defence Battalion will be inaugurated on Wednesday 3 December at a ceremony in the northern Czech Republic town of Liberec, the home base of the Czech NBC Battalion.

The event will mark the Initial Operational Capability (IOC) of the Battalion (officially 1 Dec) under the leadership of Czech Armed Forces. Troops from
12 other nations, Belgium, Canada, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom and USA, will make up the force.

“Our immediate task is to commence rigorous training to prove our capabilities and interoperability in order to reach Full Operational Capability for NATO operations in July 2004,” said Czech Army Major Vratislav Osvald, the unit’s first commander.

The CBRN battalion will be an integral part of the high-readiness, rapid reaction NATO Response Force which was itself officially launched on 15 October 2003. The NRF is the main driving force behind the far-reaching transformation of NATO to ensure the Alliance is empowered to deal with the security threats of the 21st Century.

The unit’s mission is to provide a credible defence for its deployed response forces against a CBRN attack. This will be achieved through a variety of operations including reconnaissance, detection, monitoring and decontamination.

“The formation of this core unit is an excellent example of our Alliance’s ability to draw on the highly skilled and experienced niche capabilities from within the armed forces of our member states,” said Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) General James L. Jones.

The spread of weapons of mass destruction, and in particular biological and chemical weapons, is a real and dangerous threat, which the new battalion targets directly.

The CBRN Battalion marks the fulfilment of one of the key Prague Capability Commitments made by NATO's heads of state and government at the November 2002 Prague Summit.

The Battalion comes under the operational control of SACEUR, with delegated authority to the Joint Forces Command, AFNORTH in Brunssum or AFSOUTH in Naples. Command and location of the CBRN battalion will rotate among Alliance nations. Germany takes command of the second rotation in six months.