The “Weapons Intelligence Team” course took place at the NATO Counter Improvised Explosive Devices (C-IED) Centre of Excellence, in Hoyo de Manzanares, Spain in June 2017.

An “improvised explosive device” (IED), like a roadside bomb, is a type of unconventional explosive weapon that can take any form, is inexpensive and easy to get by terrorists and insurgents. It represents a critical threat both in theatre of operations and at home.

NATO has acquired inputs and intelligence from the analysis of the increasingly sophisticated weapons systems that insurgents and terrorists are using, and has developed an action plan to detect and neutralise IEDs and to identify and disrupt the networks supporting this threat.

The Weapons Intelligence Team course is a tool to spread this IED expertise to NATO Allies and partner countries.

During the course, the students learn how to collect evidence as well as identify, locate and target different threat networks using IEDs, such as roadside bombs. The first part of the course took place in a land environment in Hoyo de Manzanares, Spain, where the NATO C-IED Centre of Excellence is located. For the first time, the last week of the course took place in a maritime scenario, at Naval Station Rota in Spain.