North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Allied Command Operations
September 19, 2013
Training Key to NATOs Future says SACEUR
Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Philip Breedlove and Commander Joint Force Command Brunssum, General Hans-Lothar Domröse spoke to over twenty international journalists regarding their priorities for the coming year, including the training of the NATO Response Force and Exercise Steadfast Jazz at JFC Brunssum, The Netherlands on Wednesday 18 September.
General Breedlove indicated that his top priority as the commander of NATO’s operational forces was the planning for NATO’s post-ISAF engagement in Afghanistan, the RESOLUTE SUPPORT Mission.
“I recognise that the Alliance is gradually reducing its presence on deployed operations, and that our efforts are starting to shift to a contingency posture,” said General Breedlove. “Therefore, an enduring priority is ensuring NATO remains vigilant and prepared to meet future challenges and threats with agile, capable, and interoperable military forces,” he said.
General Breedlove added that NATO has achieved an unprecedented level of cohesiveness among allies and partner forces in the past decade of combat operations and is operating as a seamless integrated team.
“We aim to maintain this level of cohesion by intensifying our education, training and exercises in the air, land, sea and cyber domains,” he said.
Several NATO Response Force exercises will be conducted during the second part of 2013 to keep the Alliance fit for the future. The Air exercise ‘Brilliant Arrow’ and a wide variety of Land-based exercises have already occurred in the last few months. Next week, NATO will exercise its naval forces during Exercise BRILLIANT MARINER. This training event will prepare Alliance maritime forces for the final stage of NATO Response Force training, Exercise STEADFAST JAZZ, which takes place in early November 2013.
During Steadfast Jazz, air, land, maritime and special forces components will all be exercised, as well as the headquarters staff from Joint Force Command Brunssum who will be expected to lead NATO joint operations next year. Almost every NATO member nation is involved together with a number of partners.
“Steadfast Jazz is the final preparation in certifying forces allocated to the NRF for 2014 and, specifically, my headquarters, Joint Force Command Brunssum for its potential command role,” said General Hans-Lothar Domröse. “The NRF is a highly capable force but also a force that is evolving to the demands of modern warfare – cyber for example – and embraces the latest military capabilities Alliance members have developed in response to emerging threats,” he said.
According to Major-general Michael Yakovleff, Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans at JFC Brunssum, the NATO Response Force allows the Alliance to develop and maintain robust, mobile and deployable conventional forces to carry out Alliance’s responsibilities and its expeditionary operations. “The overarching purpose of the NATO Response Force is to provide a rapid military response to an emerging crisis, whether for collective defence purposes or for other crisis response operations,” he said.
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