Shtip, 20 April 2026 (MIA) – As part of the Flash 26 exercise, the evaluation process for the Light Infantry Battalion Group (LIBG) started Monday at Shtip’s Jane Sandanski barracks with the purpose of meeting NATO’s capabilities goals. The exercise, running through April 19-27 at several sites across the country, is a resumption of the Macedonian Flash serial aimed at demonstrating combat readiness, tactical training and interoperability of the unit in line with NATO’s strict standards.

It aims at evaluating the LIBG’s combat capabilities and the unit’s readiness to perform operations in realistic conditions. 

Lieutenant Colonel Goran Kimov, LIBG’s evaluations director, said LIBG will be evaluated according to the concept of evaluating the combat readiness of the NATO Joint Operational Command's Land Forces Command.

After an order was issued to evaluate the combat readiness in August 2025, said Kimov, a team of 40 NATO certified evaluators kicked off a nine-month process to check the combat readiness. The process was coordinated with the Land Forces Command, he added, and in correlation with the leadership of Flash 26 leadership as the exercise will be used to assess all the needed criteria to certify the battalion combat group.

To that end, Kimov said, more than 20 events have been prepared, including over 100 incidents caused by the servicemen of the battalion to demonstrate the group’s combat readiness. 
 

Combat readiness will be checked in seven areas, including checking of the entire documentation, performance of different operations to protect the forces, protection of information, command and control, according to the Lieutenant Colonel, who said the entire process will take place in three phrases.

The evaluation of LIBG’s combat readiness will be revealed Friday. 

Photo: MIA