Project Team Personnel Recovery (PT PR)

Sep 12, 2016

Personnel Recovery storming soldiers_jpg

Start Date: 2007
Type of activity: Intra-Theatre Combat Capabilities
Participating Countries: AT, BE, CZ, CY, DE, FR, HU, IT, NL, PL, RO, SE, UK
Chair: DE
Other partners: European External Action Service (EEAS), European Union Military Staff (EUMS), Crisis Management and Planning Directorate (CMPD)
European Personnel Recovery Centre (EPRC)

Today’s theatre of operations is challenging and volatile. Deployed personnel carry the risk of being trapped, isolated, detained, captured or maltreated by adversary forces in a hostile environment. Ensuring the swift and safe recovery of personnel who for some reason have ended up isolated in an emergency situation must be a high-priority for all EU-led crisis management operations. In this regard, all possible diplomatic, civil and military options should be combined to release and effect the recovery and reintegration of isolated personnel.

Evidently, successful Personnel Recovery (PR) tasks have a tremendous impact on operational security, the morale and confidence of deployed forces as well as on public support.

Through its dedicated “Project Team Personnel Recovery”, the European Defence Agency (EDA) supports its participating Member States in enhancing their capabilities by addressing the full spectrum of PR; from the cultural and conceptual context through training aspects to the development of advanced technologies.

Project goals

developing a common PR culture, practices and procedures;
addressing identified shortfalls in PR;
enhancing interoperability of European Armed Forces’ PR capabilities;
providing PR and Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Extraction (SERE) training;
developing advanced technologies for supporting information and command and control aspects;
increasing multinational cooperation and coordination in PR;
cooperation with other entities inside and outside the EU to ensure efficiency and coherence as well as avoiding duplications;
also addressing civilian and humanitarian aspects of PR.

Detailed description of the project

Personnel Recovery (PR) is becoming increasingly significant for Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) operations and missions since any deployed person carries the risk of being trapped, isolated, captured and/or maltreated by adversary forces. If this occurs, the incident can have a detrimental impact not only on the operation’s security but also on deployed forces’ morale as well as general public support. It is therefore imperative to ensure the effective and quick recovery and reintegration of isolated personnel by using all possible diplomatic, civil and military options.

Since 2007 EDA’s Project Team Personnel Recovery (PT PR) has been working in support of its participating Member States (pMS) in order to enhance their PR capabilities and to effectively address these challenges. Under the German chairmanship and with the active participation of more than 10 pMS, the PT PR has delivered tangible results and studies. In its activities the PT is also supported by the European Union Military Staff (EUMS) and the Crisis Management and Planning Directorate (CMPD) as well as the European Personnel Recovery Centre (EPRC), a close partner of the Agency.

The efforts of EDA PT PR to close identified shortfalls in PR and to provide the required capability to safely recover isolated personnel is an enduring process. In this context, working on four different but interrelated work strands (Concept, Command & Control, Equipment and Training), the PT aims to address the full spectrum of PR; from the cultural and conceptual context through training aspects to the development of advanced technologies. Below the principal activities aiming at enhancing interoperability of European Armed Forces’ PR capabilities are presented:

Personnel Recovery Functional Area Service Advanced Technology Demonstrator (PR FAS ATD): an information management and command & control (C2) system that aims at increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of PR missions. The demonstrator has been successfully developed and distributed to all pMS and partners in mid-2016. The Agency continues to work on various aspects of the through-life management of the tool to ensure its operational functionality in the long-term.
e-learning SERE training tool: this Swedish web-based and interactive tool translated into English will enable pMS to teach and train their staff in SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Extraction) before being deployed to PR missions. The tool will be delivered to all pMS by the end of 2016.
Personnel Recovery Controller and Planner Course (PRCPC): This course aims to form PR controllers and planners in tactical and operational headquarters in military operations. Ultimately, it ensures that trained personnel are available to support any PR activity under CSDP. So far eight courses have been conducted. The PRCPC was established in May 2013 under the lead of Sweden and it includes six contributing EU Member States: Austria, Belgium, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands and Sweden. The PRCPC expires in May 2017.
EU Concept for Personnel Recovery in support of the CSDP: The PT PR with the leading support of the EPRC and other EU partners (EUMS and CMPD) will support the revision of the current PR Concept in order to synchronise it to the new security landscape and the respective NATO PR concept.