New York State recently hosted the 2024 “Raven’s Challenge,” the world’s largest annual training exercise for public safety bomb squads and military explosive ordnance disposal teams at the State Preparedness Training Center in Oriskany. Bomb technicians and military personnel representing various places around New York State, the country, and the world, including Germany, Poland, Ukraine, and Canada, participated in the exercise and engaged in training on response tactics for improvised explosive devices.
During the week-long exercise, teams conducted scenario-based training based on the current threat environment and intelligence, fostering skills and capabilities such as information exchange, team building, and working in realistic environments. Many different parts of the State and the country and some organizations from around the world were represented at this year’s exercise, including:
- Alleghany County PA Police Department
- Butler County OH Sheriff’s Office
- City of Erie PA Police Department
- Erie County NY Sheriff’s Office
- Erie County PA Sheriff’s Office
- German Federal Police
- Massachusetts State Police
- Monroe County NJ Sheriff’s Office
- New Haven CT Police Department
- New Jersey State Police
- New York State Police
- Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office
- Pittsburgh PA Police Department
- Poland OED
- City of Rochester Police Department
- City of Syracuse Police Department
- Toronto CAN Police
- Portland ME Police HDU
- Ukrainian EOD
- U.S. Capitol Police
- U.S. Department of Defense
- Waterloo CAN Regional Police Services
The Raven’s Challenge is funded by the U.S. Army and coordinated by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and partner agencies including the Army, Department of Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and state and local law enforcement agencies. The ATF also conducted the Raven’s Challenge exercise this year in Washington, Virginia, Utah, and Kentucky. This is the fifth time New York State has hosted this interagency exercise at the SPTC.
Since 2006, the New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services (DHSES) has administered $29.6 million in federal homeland security funding to support the 12 local FBI-accredited bomb squads in New York State. This funding, coupled with effective training exercises such as the Raven’s Challenge, helps prepare these teams to respond to New York’s ever-evolving threat landscape
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