Luxembourg army takes the lead over new mission in Kosovo

The Benelux-Peloton « Air Surveillance » (« Air Supervision »), which is comprehensive in total and under Luxembourg, was adopted on Tuesday in the presence of Defense Minister Yuriko Backes (DP), her Belgian counterpart Theo Francken and Luxembourg’s General Steve Thull for her use in Kosovo. In addition to seven Luxembourgers, five Belgians and a Dutch are assigned to the unit.

The mission of this completely interoperable unit is to collect information data using drones. The Benelux department is integrated into the « Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance » (ISR) battalion on site. The ISR battalion is part of one of the subordinate units of the KFOR command and forms the focus that is supposed to synchronize the various ISR skills used for the mission.

1,200 soldiers from Luxembourg in 18 years

« This is the first time in history that the Luxembourg army takes the lead at such a common mission. This shows how much our army has matured in recent years, » emphasized Minister Backes and added: « This Benelux department is a symbol of closer cooperation in defense questions that we strive for. »

From 1999 to the meantime withdrawal in 2017, the Luxembourg Army sent quotas into Kosovo, which were initially integrated into Belgian, then integrated into French structures and finally subordinate to the KFOR headquarters from March 2011. During the 18-year participation of Luxembourg, almost 1,200 soldiers were deployed in 52 rotations.

Since 2018, Luxembourg has been financing a large part of the « KFor Role2 », a medical care structure in the « Film City » camp, Pristina. This structure is operated by a commercial service provider. Between 2018 and 2022, Luxembourg supported this ability financially with four million euros annually. In the course of a new tender, Luxembourg has undertaken to further finance the « KFOR ROLE2 » structure with two million euros a year from 2023 to 2027.