Cyprus Ministry of Defence

The Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Cyprus (Cy MoD), is the civilian cabinet organization responsible for managing the Cyprus National Guard. Armed Forces in Cyprus are composed by three of the four country’s uniform services which have law enforcement mission with jurisdiction in land, air and maritime borderlines. Cyprus is the third biggest island in the Mediterranean Sea and the coastline extends up to 648Km. Cyprus is the eastern border of the European union. In support of the National CSDP, the Ministry of Defense disposes resources (coastline radars, RPAS (UAVs),OPVs (Off-shore Patrol Vehicles) for the surveillance of maritime territory to ensure and enhance maritime border surveillance with the constant presence of its ships in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), in the Eastern Mediterranean, as well as anywhere demanded. The MoD also implements interventions focusing on the facilitation of the interaction with citizens like the digitalization of recruitment archives and services, the generation of digital charts, and also incorporates departments and units that address social issues like public protection, crisis managements as well as search and rescue operations which is coordinated by JRCC. The Cyprus Joint Rescue Coordination Center or JRCC Larnaca is an agency of the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Cyprus and its primary mission is to organize the Cyprus Republic Search and Rescue (SAR) system. In particular its mission is to co-ordinate, control and direct SAR operations in the region that the Cyprus JRCC is responsible for (which coincides with the Nicosia FIR), so that people, whose lives are at risk as a result of aviation or maritime accidents, can be located and rescued in the minimum amount of time. This is achieved by coordinating all the different agencies involved, such as the Cyprus Police Aviation Unit, the Cyprus Police Port and Marine Police, the Cyprus National Guard Naval Command, the Cyprus National Guard Air Force Command, the Cyprus Civil Defence and other secondary Units. The JRCC acts as a communications agent between them, so that they do not conduct overlapping searches and waste time by searching areas already searched by other units. Generally, JRCC helps all units to operate as a single larger in numbers unit, eliminating any problems that may occur due to their diversity. JRCC reports directly to the operational control of the Minister of Defense and it is staffed by qualified personnel of the Cyprus National Guard, mainly from the branches of the Navy and the Air Force. All logistic and technical support is the responsibility of the Ministry of Communications & Works.