North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe
April 22, 2015
DSACEUR Visits Exercise WIND SPRING in Romania
SMARDAN, Romania: Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe (DSACEUR) General Sir Adrian Bradshaw met soldiers and witnessed multinational military training being held at the Smardan training area in eastern Romania on Tuesday 21 April 2015. Over 2,200 Romanian, British, American and Moldovan troops are participating in the multinational joint exercise, which runs from 16-30 April.
During the visit DSACEUR also met with the Romanian Minister of National Defence, Mr. Mircea Duşa and the Chief of General Staff, Lieutenant-General Nicolae-Ionel Ciucă. Among the topics discussed were recent agreements to establish NATO command and control elements in Romania. A total of six Allies, including Romania, have begun work on establishing NATO Force Integration Units that will facilitate defence planning and the rapid deployment of NATO forces, if required.
“NATO is on track and on time in delivering on commitments to adapt to new and emerging security threats from both the south and east,” said General Bradshaw. “Romania’s contribution of a NATO Force Integration Unit is essential to this effort, as it will identify logistical networks, transportation nodes and supporting infrastructure to ensure NATO high-readiness forces can deploy quickly when needed,” he said.
Romania is also working on establishing a Multinational Division Headquarters for south-eastern Europe that can command troops during land operations, which improves NATO’s deployable command and control capabilities.
General Bradshaw acknowledged Romania as an ardent supporter of NATO and Allied training. In March, Romanian ships conducted training with Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 in the Black Sea, and Romanian soldiers are currently training with several Allies on Exercise SABER JUNCTION in Germany.
“The training I’ve seen today embodies NATO’s strong resolve and commitment to collective defence,” said General Bradshaw. “Romania’s support of NATO and multinational training is exceptional, and Romanian troops are making valuable contributions to the RESOLUTE SUPPORT mission in Afghanistan, as well as to the KFOR mission in Kosovo,” he added.
In June, NATO will conduct a series of training events, collectively referred to as the ALLIED SHIELD series of exercises. The ALLIED SHIELD series includes Exercise NOBLE JUMP, the first training tactical deployment of Allied high-readiness units under the new Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) framework. It also includes BALTOPS, a major Allied naval exercise in Poland and SABER STRIKE, a significant land exercise in the Baltic States.
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