The drill took place at the National Defense and Crisis Management Center, from 18-26 May 2015.
The exercise was divided into two parts - planning and action. Qatar has engaged all of its civil departments including its Ministry of Labor for the exercise.
In the planning session, participating countries have been working on rescuing a hijacked civilian aircraft from the National Defense and Crisis Management Centre.
Forces of all participating countries have been divided in groups - intelligence, operations, logistics, plans, medical and media - to handle the situation.
Some 27 friendly countries took part, including the US, UK, Germany, and France as observers.
Bangladesh participated in almost all events of the drill. Its team consisted of nearly 350 personnel including 236 from the Navy that joined with its largest ship “Somudra Joy”.
Pakistan’s Minister for Defence Syed Naveed Qamar represented his country in the exercise. Pakistan Navy Ship (PNS Khaibar - photo) participated with an embarked helicopter. In 2008 and 2010, Pakistan had participated as an observer.
The Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani attended Tuesday (26 May) a part from the Senior Commanders seminar for the joint military drill. He saw a documentary film prepared by the organizers about the course of field exercises of the “Buzzard 4” military drill such as disasters operations, crisis management, anti-terrorism and sea piracy operations, joint maneuvers and other logistics operations.
Qatar’s Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al-Thani and several Ministers of Defense and Chiefs-of-Staff of the brotherly and friendly Armed Forces attended the seminar.
The Chief-of-Staff of the Qatari Armed Forces Major General (Pilot) Ghanem bin Shaheen Al Ghanem pointed to the keenness to renew and develop the exercise, lauding the efforts of all participants, led by the Commander of the exercise, Major General (Pilot) Abdullah Jamaan Al Hamad, as well as all military personnel and various state agencies involved in the exercise, in addition to the cooperation of friendly countries that offered diverse aspects support.
Doha serves as host to major US military facilities in the Middle East.
Source: QNA; Agencies
