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DFI

Defence Forces, Ireland

The Defence Forces, Ireland encompasses the Army, Naval Service and Air Corps and represents the legal and recognised military arm of the Republic of Ireland. Headquartered in Newbridge, Co Kildare, the Irish Defence Forces has almost 9,500 personnel, 800 civilian staff and 4,000 reservists.

The Army Ordnance Corps is solely responsible for the delivery of EOD and IEDD within the state. The Ordnance Corps has a significant involvement with both the European Defence Agency and NATO/PfP and the Ordnance School has conducted a range of courses for both organisations. The Ordnance School has prepared and delivered a food for thought paper for the EDA on Counter-adversary threat networks for period 2014-2020 in addition to assisting with the development of policy papers. DFI Ordnance Corps are recognised internationally as having significant expertise within the realm of C-IED; credit in this regard has been expressed at the highest levels of the UN, EDA and by the American President, Barrack Obama, amongst others. The Ordnance School has provided evidence on all aspects of the explosive threat to the Goldstone Tribunal (Israeli Invasion of Gaza) and to the International war crimes tribunal on events during the Balkan’s conflict. In 2014 the school hosted two courses on Home-made explosives (HME) for both police, civilian and military personnel from EU pMS which were delivered by members of the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). Members of the Ordnance Corps travel each year to various courses across the EU and US as supporting instructors.

Staff Engaged in Project

Lt Col Ray Lane, School Commandant, Ordnance School, Defence Forces Training Centre

Ray Lane has been a member of the Defence Forces for 40 years with the majority of this service with the Army Ordnance Corps. He is an Honours science graduate in Chemistry, holds an MBA from University of London, he is also qualified as an Ammunition Technical Officer from the British Army School of Ammunition. He has comprehensive overseas experience in diverse theatres from Lebanon, the Balkans and Afghanistan where he was Chief of Operations in the Counter IED Branch in 2007. He has been a pioneer in the ever evolving role of C-IED in modern military operations and has been to the fore conceptually in this area with NATO and the European Defence Agency. He has recently been tasked as the leader of Research and Innovation within the Defence Forces. He has briefed and lectured on C-IED/CBRNe in many countries UK/USA/ISRAEL /NATO COE. He is also an active member of the EDA C-IED project team /EDA C-IED Detection project team.

Capt Alan Kearney, Ordnance Group, Defence Forces Training Centre

Alan Kearney has been a member of the Defence Forces for 27 years, with the majority of this service with the Army’s Ordnance Corps. He completed a technical apprenticeship and has completed multiple courses, both nationally and internationally, in areas related to weapons, explosives and CBRNe. He holds an MA from Maynooth University and is currently a Hume Scholar PhD candidate, studying the use of the IED in conflict. He has completed four tours of service in Lebanon in both infantry and IEDD appointments and served in an intelligence appointment with ISAF. He has worked closely with Lt Col Ray Lane over the last eight years in the development of policy and training based on effective threat assessments and risk analyses to support the ever evolving C-IED role in military, police, other government agency (OGA) and NGO operations at EDA, NATO/PfP and UN level and served on the national IEDD panel for over a decade.