North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Allied Command Operations
August 19, 2013
Exercise Steadfast Jazz 2013 To Test NATO Response Force
Brunssum, the Netherlands: NATO and partner nations will conduct Exercise Steadfast Jazz 2013 in Latvia and in Poland from 2 – 9 November 2013. The event will mark the culmination of a series of dynamic and demanding exercises designed to train and test troops and commanders from the NATO Response Force (NRF).
The Steadfast series of exercises are part of NATO’s efforts to maintain connected and interoperable forces at a high-level of readiness. To date, 17 exercises have been held in the series, with elements hosted in 14 different countries. The goal is to make sure that NRF troops are ready to deal with any situation in any environment.
The event involves about 6,000 personnel from many Allied and partner nations. Around 3,000 headquarters personnel from Joint Force Command Brunssum and other headquarters will be involved in a command & control exercise on the Adazi Base near Riga, Latvia and at several other headquarters locations across the Alliance. In addition, multinational troops will participate in a live-fire exercise at Poland’s Drawsko Pomorskie Training Area. Air, land, maritime, and special forces will also participate from several locations. At the conclusion of the exercise, the headquarters staff from Joint Force Command Brunssum will be officially certified to lead NATO joint operations in 2014.
“The purpose of the exercise is to train and test the NATO Response Force, a highly ready and technologically advanced multinational force made up of land, air, maritime and Special Forces components,” said General Hans-Lothar Domröse, the Commander of Joint Force Command Brunssum. “The live element of Exercise Steadfast Jazz will test the interoperability of the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines involved, while the fictional scenario will be equally challenging for those participating in the command and control aspects of the exercise,” he said.
The NRF must be able to respond to the full-spectrum of potential missions, including high-intensity combat. This requires exercising complex capabilities employed by interoperable and multinational forces in a demanding environment.
“The NATO Response Force is essential in maintaining and enhancing the ability of forces from across the Alliance to work together,” said General Philip Breedlove, Supreme Allied Commander Europe. “This will be increasingly important as the ISAF mission in Afghanistan winds-down and NATO prepares to meet future challenges,” he added.
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