SOUDA BAY, GREECE  – On  Wednesday, October 22nd, 2025, in the context of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) away day to Chania military facilities, co-organized by the German & the Greek Permanent Missions to NATO, Permanent Representatives of Allied Nations visited the NATO Maritime Interdiction Operational Training Centre (NMIOTC). The distinguished guests led by the Permanent Representatives of DEU and GRC to NATO, H.E. Dr. Detlef Wächter and H.E. Abassador Vasiliki Gounari, respectively, Mr. Julien Kita, NATO Director of Defence Enablement and Resilience, Mrs. Carmen Romero, NATO Director of Security Policy H.E. Ambassador Boris Ruge, NATO’s Assistant Secretary General for

From 13th to 17th of October 2025, the NMIOTC Course 12000 “C-IED in Maritime Interdiction Operations” was conducted at the Centre’s premises. This “NATO Approved” Course fills an operational gap in capability and contributes to operations conducted by Boarding Teams when searching and exploiting evidence, which are fundamental to the C-IED (Counter-Improvised Explosive Device) process. The aim was to train international Boarding Team personnel in NATO Tactics, Technics and Procedures (TTPs) to undertake expedient weapons intelligence tasks on board vessels and other Maritime infrastructure in support of C-IED operations. In total, eighteen (18) trainees from eight (8) countries (Azerbaijan, Bulgaria,

A Training Needs Analysis (TNA) Working Group took place from 8 to 10 Oct 2025 at the NMIOTC premises. Six(6) SMEs (ESP, GRC, POL, PRT, ROU and the USA), from the C-IED Centre of Excellence, the NMIOTC and the US Federal Bureau of Invistigation (FBI) reviewed the training material of the NATO Approved Course 23000 – Weapons Intelligence Team Supplement to the Maritime Environment, as well as the diving part of it, the Underwater Post Blast Exploitation (UPX) Course. The purpose of these Courses is to prepare deploying NATO  Forces to gather intelligence on IEDs and weapons in the maritime