Battlegroups are nimble enough to be deployed rapidly anywhere but are also capable of sustained combat in the field, writes Tom Clonan
Ireland's slow but inevitable military integration into European security and defence structures can be traced back to a proposal in 1998 in France and the UK.
The St Malo Declaration envisaged a pan-European military force that would allow the EU to acquire the capability to launch "autonomous" military operations with "credible military forces" for actions up to 2,500 miles beyond EU borders.
Battlegroups sprang from the idea that conventional military forces needed to be radically reconfigured to counter terrorism and the asymmetrical warfare associated with the "new world order".
Essentially, the battlegroup is a relatively small military formation, typically of brigade strength and consisting of 2,500 to 3,000 troops. Such battlegroups contain the basic military ingredients of infantry, artillery, armour and integrated logistics and air support.
At brigade strength, such units are an optimum size formation - small enough to be deployed rapidly anywhere within days and yet consisting of the basic combat capabilities for sustained combat in the field.
The UN, reeling from the failure of traditional peacekeeping and peace-enforcement methods to deal with rapidly-emerging crises and cases of genocide in locations as diverse as Srebrenica in the Balkans and Rwanda in Africa, also began to consider a move away from traditional large-scale troop deployments.
Such time-consuming deployments were proving too sluggish and ineffective at dealing with rapidly-deteriorating scenarios.
As a consequence, the UN Brahimi report of 2000 advocated that the UN develop US and Nato-style battlegroups necessary for the type of rapid response required in a period of global post-Cold War upheaval.
Consistent with these international developments, the European Rapid Reaction Force (ERRF) in Brussels decided that the battlegroup model would become the cornerstone for its rapid-response capability.
With commitments of over 100,000 troops, 100 naval vessels and submarines and over 400 strike aircraft, the EU had - potentially - a formidable fighting force at its disposal.
In EU military circles, the battlegroup model seemed an ideal solution for both the problem of rapid deployment and the issue of cohesiveness and smooth command and control among discrete European forces.
In November 2004, the Government agreed in principle to Ireland's participation in the EU battlegroup concept. A number of obstacles remained, including a prohibition on Irish troops travelling to neighbouring EU countries for training and large-scale military manoeuvres, an essential prerequisite to combined combat operations.
Agreement has now been reached on the drafting of legislation to circumvent this obstacle and facilitate EU-wide battlegroup training for Irish troops.
Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea indicated yesterday that Sweden would be Ireland's preferred partner in the EU battlegroup system.
This being the case, there would appear to be a green light for Irish troops to begin training soon with their Swedish counterparts. There is also the prospect of hundreds of fully-armed Swedish troops training for battlegroup operations in Ireland.
The Government has committed some 850 Irish troops for such EU battlegroup operations. This commitment consists of one infantry battalion and a unit of special forces.
Under the EU's Petersberg Tasks, these Irish troops could be called upon to engage in humanitarian and rescue tasks, crisis management, peacekeeping and peace-enforcement - combat - operations. Currently under these provisions, Irish troops are deployed with a Nato-led battlegroup with Kfor in Kosovo.
Mr O'Dea was at pains to say yesterday that Irish troops would still be protected by the "triple-lock" requirement of UN mandate, Government and Dáil approval on a case-by-case basis before any international deployment.
However, yesterday's announcement means that Irish troops may now serve with either EU or UN battlegroups.