42 BVE is one of the four ground-based reconnaissance troops (42 BVE, 43 BVE, 103 GGVE, 104 GGVE) in the Royal Netherlands Army

Royal Netherlands Army

The Royal Netherlands Army is the land forces element of the military of the Netherlands.-Short history:The Royal Netherlands Army was raised on 9 January 1814, but its origins date back to 1572, when the so-called Staatse Leger was raised...

. They are part of the 13th Mechanised Brigade which is stationed in Oirschot

Oirschot

Oirschot is a municipality and a town in the southern Netherlands. It is situated 12 km from the city of Eindhoven and 20 km from the city of Tilburg in the province Noord-Brabant...

, Noord-Brabant.

Task

42 BVE consists of two reconnaissance platoons, one infantry platoon and a logistics platoon. The reconnaissance platoons have the task to infiltrate enemy territory to find enemy units and infrastructure to provide their commander with intelligence on enemy actions. The infantry platoon ("Tirailleurpeloton") follows the reconnaissance platoons into enemy territory, to support them during contact with the enemy or to destroy selective targets.

Fennek

42 BVE was earmarked to participate as a mechanised infantry company in Uruzgan with the ISAF mission in 2007. In July 2006 the unit has converted from its original function (reconnaissance) to its ISAF function (infantry). When the unit returns from this mission it will be converted into a light reconnaissance troop equipped with the Fennek

Fennek

The Fennek, named after the fennec , or LGS Fennek, with LGS being short for Leichter Gepanzerter Spähwagen in German , is a four wheeled armed reconnaissance vehicle produced by the German company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and Dutch Defence Vehicle Systems...

, a brand new reconnaissance vehicle.