North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Allied Command Operations
April 20, 2015
The NATO Rapid Deployable Corps (NRDC)
NATO’s Rapid Deployable Corps (NRDC) can be deployed for a wide range of missions: from disaster management, humanitarian assistance and peace support to counter-terrorism and high-intensity war fighting. There are currently nine NATO Rapid Deployable Corps, which are each capable of commanding up to 60,000 soldiers.
These headquarters are multinational, but are sponsored and paid by one or more ‘framework nations’ who provide the bulk of the headquarters’ personnel, equipment and financial resources. The United Kingdom is the framework nation of the ARRC, while France, Greece, Italy, Spain and Turkey have sponsored the NATO Rapid Deployable Corps France, Greece Italy, Spain and Turkey, respectively. Germany and the Netherlands share costs for the German-Netherlands Rapid Deployable Corps, while Denmark, Germany and Poland are the three framework nations of the Multinational Corps Northeast and Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Spain are the Eurocorps framework nations. Romania is currently establishing a Multinational Division Headquarters for south-eastern Europe, which is expected to be operational by 2016.
The corps participate in the NATO Response Force (NRF) – a highly ready and technologically advanced force made up of land, air, sea, and Special Operations Forces components that can be deployed at short notice to wherever needed. Under the NRF’s rotation system, a designated Rapid Deployable Corps assumes command of the land component of the NRF for a fixed 12-month period, during which it is on standby. This means that the headquarters must be able to deploy on short notice. Prior to this, the corps undergoes an intense six-month training programme, which tests its procedures for planning and conducting combined joint crisis-response operations.
The various corps also play a central role in NATO’s ongoing operations. For example, several corps have commanded NATO’s ISAF mission in Afghanistan including Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (U.K.), NATO Rapid Deployable Corps Italy, NATO Rapid Deployable Corps Turkey, Eurocorps and 1 German-Netherlands Corps.
Source