Apr 7 2025

Video: NATO Allies train on live chemical agents

BRUSSELS - NATO Allied chemical defence soldiers trained on live agents on a unique training course in Czechia. Specialists from Italy, the Republic of Moldova and the United States gathered to test their ability to identify and neutralise live chemical weapons, ensuring that they have the confidence, and the skills required to respond to a real-life chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) attack.

The NATO Joint CBRN Defence Centre of Excellence, located in Brno, Czechia, hosts the only facility that can train recruits on nerve and blister agents, from Sarin to mustard gas. After the five-day course, participants leave with greater trust in their skills and personal protective equipment.

While these weapons are rarely used, modern battlefields have seen chemical weapons deployed against civilian populations, proving that they remain a grave danger to Allied civilians and military personnel. That’s why NATO’s CBRN defence specialists constantly train to ensure they’re ready to respond to an attack, whenever it might occur.