[JLRC]

Caros companheiros

Decidi criar este tema para nele colocarmos todas as notícias referentes à OTAN/NATO.

Cumprimentos

[JLRC]

NATO Defense Chiefs Discussing Quicker Way to Raise and Deploy Troops
 
 
(Source: Voice of America news; issued Oct. 12, 2004)
 
 
 NATO defense ministers are meeting this week in the Romanian mountain resort of Poiana Brasov to consider how the alliance can speed up the way it mobilizes and deploys troops to the world’s trouble spots. The United States wants the alliance to send more troops into Afghanistan and to quickly work out ways to boost its training mission in Iraq.  
 
The alliance has been embarrassed by delays in rounding up troops and equipment to expand the operations of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan beyond the capital, Kabul. It has now succeeded in setting up five provincial reconstruction teams in the country’s north but is also committed to move into the troubled western part of Afghanistan.  
 
U.S. officials say that deployment is not moving as fast as it should. And NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has frequently complained about having to go around allied capitals with a begging bowl asking for more troop commitments in the war-torn country.  
 
Defense ministers of the 26-nation alliance will discuss on Thursday and Friday how to encourage its members to acquire the right capabilities as NATO adapts to its three-year-old mission to conduct operations outside its traditional Euro-Atlantic area. But NATO officials, like Assistant Secretary-General for Defense Planning John Colston, say getting the allies to contribute those capabilities to the alliance is even more important.  
 
“Unless we can address these planning issues effectively, we are not going to be able to implement our operations successfully,” he said.  
 
NATO nations agreed at a summit in Istanbul earlier this year that 40 percent of the alliance’s land forces should be trained, equipped and structured to be able to deploy on operations like the one in Afghanistan. They also agreed that eight-percent of every ally’s land forces should be deployable at any one time.  
 
Mr. Colston says it is urgent that these targets be met in the months ahead.  
 
“These targets seem modest, but, if we could achieve them across our allied nations, it would make a significant difference to our ability to put forces into the field,” he said.  
 
NATO boosted its presence in Afghanistan from 6,500 troops to about nine thousand to provide protection for last weekend’s presidential elections there. But that was only a temporary deployment. The alliance needs more men and materiel for longer-term peacekeeping operations.  
 
The allies also agreed last week on a draft plan to send about 300 instructors to train Iraq’s security forces. About 50 are already there. But NATO will need guards and support personnel numbering in the thousands to back up the trainers. NATO planners hope to wrap up the details of the operation by the end of this month, but U.S. officials have expressed their concern that the NATO mission may not be fully in place by the time Iraq holds elections in late January.  
 
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is also expected to urge his colleagues to close the military capabilities gap between the United States and its allies. The U.S. defense budget of $417 billion is twice as high as the combined defense budgets of the other 25 allies put together.  
 
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NATO Capabilities Improving, but Time Needed
 
 
(Source: US Department of Defense; issued Oct. 12, 2004)
 
 
 
WASHINGTON --- NATO capabilities are transforming, but the process will take time, said Marine Gen. James Jones in a recent interview.  
 
Jones, the alliance’s supreme allied commander for operations, said that transformation is not just a U.S. process. “It’s all over the alliance, he said. “We have 26 nations, and we’re transforming the alliance toward the 21st century.”  
 
NATO forces are in Afghanistan. They are going to be in Iraq to help train the Iraqi security forces. NATO assets helped safeguard the Athens Olympics. These are missions that would have been unheard of 15 years ago when the alliance was prepared to defend Western Europe from the Soviet Union. “For NATO this is historic stuff,” Jones said. “But it takes time to turn that around.”  
 
The general said that people should not be critical of the alliance in the global war on terror. “(The NATO nations) are making a big contribution,” he said.  
 
Transformation in NATO is essentially a land problem. “The air forces are already pretty interoperable, the naval forces are completely interoperable and have been for years,” Jones said. “The third piece is the armies, and that’s where the mass is.”  
 
Persuading countries to make their forces more usable and reorient the savings they realize into needed capabilities is working, he said. “The capabilities issue is interesting, because there is a list of high-end items like strategic lift to fix over a 10-year period,” he said.  
 
Countries are making these investments. If they continue over the next five to 10 years, much of the technological gap between the United States and its European allies will close. However, this will be extremely expensive, and it means that there will be fewer than the 2.4 million Europeans that there are in uniform today.  
 
“It’s the same problem the United States faced after Desert Shield/Storm,” Jones said. “We had excess capacity – too many bases, too much old equipment, too many people. To get to transformation, you have to shrink your personnel costs while maintaining the overall budget.”  
 
Many of the allies are transitioning to a professional force – an all-volunteer force, he said. They are going after higher-tech weapons systems.  
 
Jones said he would like to see “a little bit more commitment to national security on the part of members whose (defense) budgets are below 2 percent (of their gross national product).”  
 
“My line in NATO is you can’t call it transformation if you are reducing your budgets and your force structure,” he said. “If you are holding the budget and fixing all else, that’s transformational.”  
 
New members are doing well at this. NATO expressly asked Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia not to develop air forces. The alliance said it would be responsible for those countries’ air policing and air defense under Article V of the NATO charter. Right now, Danish fighters are over the Baltic republics, which allows the countries to develop other needed capabilities.  
 
The Czech republic built a world-class chemical, biological, radiological defense capability that everybody wants to use. These examples are probably the way of the future, Jones said.  
 
And Jones works closely with his friend U.S. Navy Adm. Edmund Giambasitani, the alliance’s supreme allied commander for transformation, based in Norfolk, Va. Jones said the men are “philosophical soulmates.” They are working together to further the work of transformation throughout the alliance, he said.  
 
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Rumsfeld: Transformation Moving NATO Into 21st Century
 
 
(Source: US Department of Defense; issued Oct. 13, 2004)
 
 
 POIANA BRASOV, Romania --- Initiatives designed to expand NATO’s capabilities are helping the alliance to better confront 21st-century challenges such as global terrorism, the U.S. military’s top civilian said here today.  
 
For example, NATO’s recently established rapid response force, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld noted to reporters during a roundtable discussion at a local hotel, “will help the entire alliance move into the 21st century.”  
After meeting earlier today with senior Romanian government officials in Bucharest, Rumsfeld traveled to this  
 
Transylvanian resort town to attend Oct. 13 and 14 NATO informal defense ministerial meetings.  
 
Now with 26 member nations, Rumsfeld noted that NATO has also expanded its chemical-biological warfare capabilities. And, with NATO deployments to the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq in recent years, Rumsfeld pointed out, the alliance has moved outside of its traditional sphere of operations.  
 
These developments, in concert with current NATO initiatives to streamline headquarters staffs and modernize capabilities, “gives the alliance a chance of really being relevant” to confront new threats to peace and stability, Rumsfeld pointed out.  
 
If NATO cannot quickly respond to modern challenges such as those presented by transnational terrorism, Rumsfeld reasoned, then “you don’t have a military alliance for this century.”  
 
Rumsfeld envisions that modern military practices that form the organizational backbone of NATO’s quick reaction force will spread across the alliance.  
 
“As countries commit to that response force and as it is used,” Rumsfeld explained, “it will then back into the member countries the kind of transformation that’s necessary for those countries to reform the rest of their military capabilities.”  
 
The secretary praised former Pentagon NATO specialist J.D. Crouch, now the U.S. ambassador to Romania, for the work he did on changing the NATO command structure.  
 
Under Crouch’s watch, Rumsfeld noted, NATO had reduced its headquarters elements from 20 to 11. The alliance, the secretary added, continues to streamline staff operations to obtain more warfighters for duty on the front lines, thereby improving its “tooth-to-tail ratio.”  
 
Ongoing NATO missions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kosovo will likely be discussed during the ministerial meetings, said U.S. Ambassador to NATO Nicholas Burns, who accompanied Rumsfeld to the roundtable.  
 
“And, there’ll be a lot of talk on transformation -- the issues the secretary referred to,” Burns observed, in the context of meeting 21st-century threats.  
 
“How do you change the doctrine and capabilities of the alliance so that we can be successful meeting these new threats?” Burns asked. In confronting global terrorism, he added, NATO has “to go beyond Europe to defend Europe.” And that, Burns pointed out, “is the strategic shift that has occurred in NATO.”  
 
Burns said NATO representatives at the ministerial meetings here would likely discuss expanding the alliance’s presence into western Afghanistan to bring about more stability with parliamentary elections slated for the spring.  
 
In Iraq, NATO will accelerate training of Iraqi security forces at the request of the interim government, Burns noted. As part of fulfilling that mission, he said, 300 to 400 NATO-member officers will be assigned to instruct senior Iraqi leaders at a military academy to be opened in eastern Baghdad.  
 
The Iraqis, Burns continued, also have asked NATO for more equipment for its expanding security forces. Trained and equipped Iraqi security forces now number about 100,000, DoD officials recently noted, with 40,000 to50,000 more expected to be added by January. The current goal, according to DoD, is to train and equip 200,000 to 250,000 Iraqi security forces.  
 
Several NATO members, Burns pointed out, had once belonged to the Warsaw Pact and have old Soviet equipment in their warehouses. And much of that equipment, he noted, “fuels and runs” the Iraqi armed forces.  
 
Therefore, a solution to the equipment issue, Burns suggested, could involve some eastern European NATO members donating or selling their surplus Soviet gear to the Iraqis.  
 
Burns said another alliance issue involves the still-unstable situation in Kosovo, where about 20,000 NATO troops are deployed to keep the peace. Violence in Kosovo erupted again in March, he said. NATO defense ministers will therefore likely “reconfirm the need” to maintain current alliance troop levels there, he added. And, the NATO mission in Bosnia, Burns reported, will be handed over to the European Union in December.  
 
NATO made the right decision to deploy its forces to Afghanistan and Iraq, Burns asserted. Now it’s the time, he added, for the alliance “to get on the ground and make a difference” in Afghanistan and Iraq, and “do it in a very strong way.”  
 
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France, Germany Reject US Plan to Fuse Afghan Commands
 
 
(Source: Voice of America; issued Oct. 13, 2004)
 
 
 France and Germany have turned down a U.S. proposal that the NATO peacekeeping operation in Afghanistan and the bigger U.S.-led force fighting insurgents there be merged into one single command. No way! That was the French and German reaction to the U.S. suggestion that the two Afghan commands be unified.  
 
NATO has about 9,000 troops in Afghanistan who are mainly engaged in peacekeeping and reconstruction work in Kabul, the capital, and some northern provinces. The alliance wants to move into the more troubled western part of the country and is calling on its members to commit troops and equipment for that operation.  
 
The U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom has twice as many troops and is concentrated in Afghanistan’s southeastern provinces, where it is engaged in combat operations against remnants of the Taleban and al-Qaida.  
 
French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie told reporters after the meeting that the two commands have different missions and that it would make no sense to unite them.  
 
She says there is some sense in trying to create synergies between the two forces, but, for France, there is no logic to merging their operations.  
 
Her German colleague Peter Struck also rejected the idea of a fusion of the two commands, saying German troops are in Afghanistan to help stabilize the country and not to fight terrorists.  
 
NATO officials have been touting the idea that the two commands could be brought under one general, but maintain their separate missions. But Ms. Alliot-Marie dismissed even that suggestion, saying it would be counterproductive. She did not explain why.  
 
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer urged the allies to provide NATO’s nascent training mission in Iraq with the instructors and additional personnel it needs so that the operation can be up-and-running by the time Iraqis hold elections next January.  
 
But France reiterated its refusal to take part in the training mission, and German minister Struck backed away from a previous hint that his country might at some unspecified later date provide troops there. He was quickly slapped down by his own government, which has insisted it will not take part in any military operations in Iraq.  
 
The flurry over Afghanistan overshadowed NATO’s announcement that its new rapid response force of 17,000 troops is ready to go into action. The force’s goal is to react to crises around the world in five days time.  
 
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New Members Highlight Restructuring Plans for NATO  
 
 
(Source: Forecast International; issued Oct. 13, 2004)
 
 
 NEWTOWN, Conn. --- The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is redefining itself in ways unforeseen just a few short years ago. In its latest round of expansion in March, seven new nations – Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia – joined the defense alliance, expanding the membership to 26.  
 
In that one move, three former post-communist Eastern European states became part of a defense organization that they opposed during the Cold War. The occasion will inevitably effect an augmentation of NATO’s defense spending, making the alliance more secure, and create cooperation between countries previously outside the Western sphere.  
 
Even with the Cold War over, change has come slowly to NATO’s overall structure and purpose. However, the Prague Summit in November 2002 raised several issues that deserve special attention, including NATO’s place in a world no longer threatened by the Soviet Union, and the threat of international terrorism.  
 
The relevance of large standing armies was another topic brought up for consideration. Without the threat of invasion, large armies within the NATO alliance are hardly necessary. Furthermore, much of what NATO member countries spend on defense is in personnel costs – funds that could be better used to upgrade aging technologies and on the research and development of new ones.  
 
Many NATO countries still employ large numbers of poorly trained conscripts whose military terms last no more than a year at most and in some cases fewer than six months. Former NATO Secretary Lord Robertson considers most of these 1.4 million soldiers “useless” for the organization’s current missions. “The harsh unavoidable truth is that if our governments are to continue to take on political commitments to do more militarily, in Afghanistan or in Africa or anywhere else, then they must improve the usability of their armed forces,” Robertson remarked.  
 
“Personnel issues notwithstanding, NATO planners are focusing on a restructuring plan that will work toward ensuring highly mobile ground, naval, and air forces capable of responding to a threat, and acting as part of the alliance, in any part of the world,” said Charles Falzone III, Forecast International defense analyst and author of “NATO Market Overview.” “Terrorism is receiving special attention, with an emphasis on the prevention, disposal, and location of weapons of mass destruction.”  
 
Defense spending is expected to rise among the newest NATO nations as they modernize their forces to increase interoperability. In some cases it may take decades to bring former Warsaw Pact nations to U.S. standards. Indeed, with the United States developing military technology at such a feverish pace, this effort at modernization may prove tentative at best.  
 
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Boeing Begins Flight Testing Upgraded Mission System Aboard NATO AWACS Aircraft  
 
 
(Source: Boeing Co.; issued Oct. 14, 2004)
 
 
 ST. LOUIS --- Boeing has begun mission system flight tests on the first of 17 NATO AWACS aircraft upgraded under the $1.3 billion Mid-Term Modernization program.  
 
The tests culminate seven years of engineering, manufacturing and design, and through operational scenarios will demonstrate the upgraded capabilities of the NATO customer’s mission system.  
 
Testing is scheduled to be completed in March 2005.  
 
The modernization includes integration of state-of-the-art enhancements to the fleet’s computers, displays, communications, navigation and target identification systems. Hardware to retrofit the rest of the fleet is currently in production.  
 
“This highly flexible mission system provides NATO AWACS aircraft with the ability to receive mission orders via software from a remote location and updates via satellite data links,” said Mark Ellis, Boeing NATO AWACS programs manager. “The system will electronically integrate the updates into the mission computing system, significantly enhancing the fleet’s capability.”  
 
Another upgrade provides an improved picture of the battlespace with the integration of data from various sensors on board the AWACS, as well as from other sources, and an increased capacity in the number of targets it can track.  
 
“The new capability also allows increased interoperability with more assets including other AWACS or AEW&C fleets, ground stations, fighter aircraft, UAVs, ships and satellites and is combined with an updated Identification Friend or Foe system,” Ellis said. “All of this results in improved air traffic and battle management.”  
 
Ellis says five additional operator consoles integrated with the mission system enhancements will extend the entire fleet’s capability as well as the life of the aircraft by allowing two AWACS to cover the mission of three in certain situations.  
 
Following successful mission system testing by Boeing, NATO will conduct an operational test and evaluation program. Retrofit of the entire fleet is expected to be completed in 2008.  
 
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Response Force Ready For Missions
 
 
(Source: NATO; dated Oct. 13, published Oct. 14, 2004)
 
 
 NATO’s cutting-edge Response Force (NRF) has reached initial operational capability and is now ready to take on the full range of missions where and when the Alliance decides to use it.  
 
The announcement was made by NATO Secretary General, Jaap De Hoop Scheffer, and the Alliance’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General James L. Jones, at the informal meeting of NATO Defence Ministers in Romania, 13 October 2004.  
 
This high readiness and technologically advanced force is a first for NATO. It combines elite land, air and sea units into a single force that can be deployed anywhere in the world in five days and sustain itself for up to a month on a wide range of missions.  
 
These might include collective defence, managing the consequences of natural or man-made disasters, serving as an ‘initial entry’ force for a larger follow-on force, or to demonstrate the Alliance’s determination and ability to act effectively in the early stages of a crisis.  
 
At present, the Force numbers about 17,000 troops.  
 
Because the land, air and maritime forces of NATO member countries will rotate through the Response Force, it will serve as a catalyst for the Alliance’s overall military transformation.  
 
“It is a test bed for advanced doctrines and technologies, and – as the Allies rotate their forces – lessons will be learned that can be applied, I think, across the full structure of the Alliance,” the NATO Secretary General told reporters.  
 
The concept of the NATO Response Force was agreed at NATO’s Prague Summit in 2002. The force is expected to reach its full operational capability of approximately 21,000 troops by 2006.  
 
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Second NATO Technology and Equipment Exhibition on “The Digital Battlefield”
 
 
(Source: NATO; issued Oct. 25, 2004)
 
 
 The second NATO technology and equipment exhibition, organised in the framework of the bi–annual Conference of National Armaments Directors, will be held at NATO Headquarters on 28 and 29 October 2004.  
 
This new Exhibition focuses on “The Digital Battlefield”. The Digital Battlefield is at the heart of modern military transformation: the past few years have seen an exponential increase in the speed and agility by which military operations can be conducted and by which forces can be deployed.  
 
This CNAD exhibition brings an impressive number of companies together from twenty-one nations. These display a wide range of products that directly relate to the modern digital battlefield, such as state-of-the-art battle management systems for network centric warfare, recent advances in micro, miniature and vertical take-off and landing UAVs, and the latest developments in digitised soldiers systems.  
 
This Exhibition welcomes not only a large collection of small and large companies and research establishments from throughout Europe and North America, but also companies from Partner countries as Austria, Finland, Sweden or Switzerland  
 
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First NATO Course for Iraq Underway in Norway
 
 
(Source: NATO; issued Nov. 1, 2004)
 
 
 STAVANGER, Norway --- Twenty Iraqi security personnel are here at NATO’s Joint Warfare Centre participating in the first training conducted outside of Iraq in support of the training mission announced by the Alliance at the Istanbul Summit in June.  
The eight-day course, which started Monday, has been tailored to meet the needs of mid- to high-ranking Iraqi security personnel.  
 
“Our NATO facility is well placed to offer our Iraqi guests training that will be extremely relevant to the challenges and opportunities they face in rebuilding their country’s security institutions,” said the centre’s director, British Army Major-General James Short. The centre specializes in joint headquarters-level training.  
 
The Iraqi participants range from senior military officers to civilian staff with Iraq’s Ministry of Defense and Ministry of the Interior. They were specially selected by Iraqi authorities as “key leaders” from within Iraq’s security forces.  
 
The course focuses on the function of an operational-level headquarters and includes instruction on crisis management, command and control of forces, the operational planning process, and integration of all aspects of civil-military cooperation, including liaison with the UN, Red Cross, and other international organisations.  
 
“Our host nation, Norway, is providing excellent support to this training,” said Major-General Short.  
 
The training will serve as a pilot project for possible follow-on training at the Joint Warfare Centre and back in Iraq. The ultimate aim is to help Iraq develop its own training capability.  
 
Through the NATO Training and Equipment Co-ordination Group, led by NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, the Alliance is co-ordinating Iraqi requests for further training by NATO or other organizations.  
 
The next NATO-led course to be attended by Iraqi security personnel outside their country will be at the NATO School in Germany later this month.  
 
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EADS Modernizes Mission Computer System on NATO’s AWACS Early Warning Aircraft  
 
 
(Source: EADS Defence Electronics; issued Nov. 4, 2004)
 
 
 ULM, Germany --- EADS is participating in the modernization of NATO’s AWACS early warning fleet. As announced on Thursday, Boeing has awarded EADS Defence Electronics an order for the delivery of AWACS mission computers and Multi-Sensor Integration (MSI) computers for NATO’s E-3A AWACS aircraft following successful development.  
EADS developed the MSI software in the run-up to the NATO E-3A modernization program. This software permits the automatic identification and tracking of targets as well as the generation of correlated target flight paths by including a variety of reconnaissance data on board the AWACS platform. This technology ensures a marked improvement in automatic target tracking and identification and significantly assists flight officers and their teams in airborne air surveillance.  
 
Bernhard Gerwert, head of the EADS Defence Electronics business unit, noted: “EADS manages responsibility for the sensor-fusion software as well as the main computer. Thus we are able to supply the client with a fully integrated sub-system that considerably improves the capability of the early warning system.”  
 
Within the scope of NATO’s “Mid-Term Modernization Program,” Boeing is carrying out the comprehensive modernization of the mission computer system, the displays and communication, navigation and target identification and tracking systems. EADS Military Aircraft integrates the systems supplied by EADS Defence Electronics into the AWACS aircraft at its Manching facility where it also tests the newly developed, modernized system. The first upgraded aircraft will become operational in 2006.  
 
Aircraft in NATO’s E-3 fleet at Geilenkirchen near Aachen have been in operation for 20 years. Throughout operations, these flying reconnaissance platforms have been subject to constant modernization of sensors and deployed equipment. The upgrading of the radar and Electronic Support Measures (ESM) systems, as well as the installation of the Airborne Collision Avoidance System (ACAS), have been among the most significant projects in the past. The AWACS fleet is expected to remain operational until 2025.  
 
EADS Defence Electronics, supplier of radar, avionics and electronic warfare systems, is an integrated part of the EADS Defence and Security Systems Division (DS). DS, with revenues of about EUR 5.2 billion in 2003 and roughly 24,000 employees across nine nations, forms the defence pole within EADS.  
 
EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. In 2003, the Group generated revenues of over EUR 30 billion and employed a workforce of more than 109,000.  
 
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First NATO Course for Iraq Begins in Norway
 
 
(Source: US Department of Defense; issued Nov. 4, 2004)
 
 
 WASHINGTON --- Key Iraqi civilian and military leaders arrived at the NATO Joint Warfare Centre in Norway this week to attend an eight-day pilot training course designed to teach them how to promote civil-military cooperation as they build their security institutions.  
 
Nineteen mid- and high-ranking Iraqi security personnel are participating in the first training conducted outside of Iraq in support of the training mission announced by NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer at the alliance’s Istanbul Summit in June. At the summit, 26 heads of state and government declared “full support” for the interim government in Iraq and pledged to help train Iraq’s security forces.  
 
The Iraqi Key Leader training, which began Nov. 1 in Stavanger, Norway, focuses on post-conflict resolution and rebuilding, with an emphasis on interagency and civil-military cooperation, officials explained during a news conference today at the NATO Joint Warfare Centre headquarters.  
 
The course addresses the function of an operational-level headquarters, including instruction on crisis management, command and control of forces and the operational planning process. It also covers civil-military cooperation, including liaison with the United Nations, Red Cross and other organizations, officials said.  
 
The center staff offers this instruction through lectures, simulations and exercises that give participants the opportunity to “walk through” possible real-life scenarios under the guidance of NATO instructors, they said.  
 
The Iraqi participants range from senior military officers to civilian staff with Iraq’s defense and interior ministries. Iraqi authorities selected them as key leaders from within the country’s security forces.  
 
A senior Iraqi representative at today’s news conference said the training offered valuable insights into coordination between military and civil forces — a significant part of establishing a stable security environment in Iraq. He thanked the coalition for its support and expressed appreciation to NATO for hosting the session.  
 
British Army Maj. Gen. James Short, director of the NATO Joint Warfare Centre, said the facility “is well placed to offer our Iraqi guests training that will be extremely relevant to the challenges and opportunities they face in rebuilding their country’s security institutions.”  
 
He said the Iraqi leaders have demonstrated that they are “keen to learn” and eager to take their lessons back to Iraq to help them build the security forces that are considered vital to the country’s future.  
 
Short said the training will serve as a pilot project for possible follow-on training at the Joint Warfare Centre and in Iraq, if requested by the Iraqi government. The ultimate aim is to help the Iraqis develop their own training capability, officials said today.  
 
The NATO Joint Warfare Centre was activated in October 2003, replacing the former Joint Headquarters North. The new center is a key part of NATO’s transformation efforts, focusing on ways to streamline the alliance’s military command structure and develop new concepts and doctrine for current security challenges. It specializes in joint headquarters-level training.  
 
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NATO Chief Criticizes Germany’s Iraq Stance
 
 
(Source: Deutsche Welle German radio; issued Nov. 9, 2004)
 
 
 One week after the US elected President George W. Bush to a second term, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer called for improvements to trans-Atlantic ties and greater political consensus within NATO -- specifically addressing Germany’s intention not to send Bundeswehr officers to NATO-led training programs.  
 
“The two sides must learn from each other,” said de Hoop Scheffer at the Berlin Press Club Monday. “Europe cannot unite against the United States, that would only end up dividing Europe.”  
 
Late last month, US General James Jones, the supreme allied commander in Iraq, indicated that 16 or 17 of the 26 NATO countries were ready to participate in training Iraqi security forces.  
 
Most of the countries which said they were ready to begin training are already serving as part of the US-led coalition in Iraq.  
 
France and Germany, key opponents of the war in Iraq, agreed to contribute to a NATO security training program, but only outside of Iraq.  
 
But Germany now faces a dilemma. The issue unleashed debate in Berlin about the government’s withdrawal of German officers from NATO forces set to be deployed in Iraq as advisers in January. The government stands firm on its decision not to allow its forces to set foot in the war-torn country, while the opposition wants to see Germany actively participating in NATO programs within Iraq.  
 
De Hoop Scheffer said he understood Berlin’s position, but also pointed out that it undermined NATO solidarity.  
 
A day after Iraq’s government declared a 60-day state of emergency, the NATO Secretary General emphasized the need for Iraq to gain stability ahead of January’s elections, saying this was the goal of the training program.  
 
“I believe that for as long as we have a consensus on security policy, for example as far as the training missions in Iraq are concerned, then we cannot accept that member states signal political approval of the mission while refusing to allow their NATO officers to actually participate,” he said.  
 
The former Dutch foreign minister also stressed that NATO’s role in overseas missions is set to expand.  
 
“The demand on NATO to run missions will increase and not diminish,” he said. “I doubt if all parliaments and all parliamentarians understand this.”  
 
Urging leaders to drive a debate on changing security needs to avoid a repeat of the transatlantic rifts exposed by the US-led strike on Iraq, De Hoop Scheffer said politicians had to accept the need for a stronger alliance.  
 
“Everybody realizes that what happened a year ago should never happen again. Uniting Europe against the United States is a non-starter,” he said.  
 
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Afghanistan: NATO Chief Affirms Expansion of Security Force in West of Country
 
 
(Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty; issued Nov. 12, 2004)
 
 
 NEW YORK --- NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said yesterday that the current situation in Afghanistan makes it logistically viable for the alliance to expand its operations there.  
 
“We have lived up to our promises, and at the moment the signs are good that NATO is going to expand ISAF -- the International Security Assistance Force -- into the west of Afghanistan,” de Hoop Scheffer said. “We have covered the north now with a number of so-called Provincial Reconstruction Teams. We will now go west, setting up what we call a ‘forward support base’ in Herat, and then we want to move counterclockwise to the south and the southeast of Afghanistan, as well.”  
 
De Hoop Scheffer said that NATO’s forces in the country have, in general, been received well by the Afghan people. Asked why NATO, originally created to provide security for Western Europe, is now operating in Afghanistan, the secretary-general said the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 brought about a major shift in NATO policy.  
 
“What is NATO doing in Afghanistan? Defending values at the Hindu Kush in the present day international climate,” Scheffer said. “We have to fight terrorism wherever it emerges. If we don’t do it at the Hindu Kush, it will end up at our doorstep. In other words, this perception gap in the long run must be closed and must be healed -- that is, for NATO’s future, of the utmost importance.”  
 
Another priority for NATO in Afghanistan, he said, will be providing additional security during parliamentary elections, scheduled for April. The secretary-general said that extra NATO battalions will be committed.  
 
De Hoop Scheffer described NATO’s operations in Afghanistan as a “moderate success.” But he warned that without deeper involvement by the international community in the fight against drug production and drug trafficking in Afghanistan, NATO’s ability to ensure the country’s stability will be limited.  
 
Referring to Afghanistan’s neighbors, de Hoop Scheffer underlined the strategic role the Central Asian states play in the fight against terrorism. Having just returned from a trip to Central Asia and the Caucasus, de Hoop Scheffer said he envisions closer cooperation with these states.  
 
“We need, by the way, Central Asian nations, and the Caucasian nations [to] play an important role in supporting the ISAF operation because we need the lines of communication -- to say in military terms -- [and] transit agreements with the Central Asians, to see that we can adequately run the ISAF operation in Afghanistan,” Scheffer said.  
 
De Hoop Scheffer said Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia have all expressed interest in closer cooperation with NATO in its Partnership for Peace program.  
 
“They all want to extend their partnership with NATO. Even Armenia has now applied for the so-called Individual Partnership Action Program, which means that we are going to develop a tailored, Armenia-tailored partnership program with that country, with Yerevan,” Scheffer said. “That goes for the Central Asian nations, as well. So that partnership is developing very well.”  
 
De Hoop Scheffer stressed that Turkey is playing a particularly active role in the Partnership for Peace program.  
 
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[JLRC]

Expeditionary software extends its reach during 'Destined Glory'
A US software application for amphibious command and control has been used for the first time by NATO commanders on Exercise 'Destined Glory 04', held in and around Sardinia in October 2004. They described it as "an extremely powerful tool in planning, presenting and monitoring the execution of inherently complex amphibious operations". During the exercise, the commander, Belgium-Netherlands Task Group (COMBNLTG), embarked in HrMs Rotterdam, was designated as the commander, Amphibious Task Force (CATF), with overall responsibility for amphibious operations.
[Jane's International Defence Review - first posted to http://idr.janes.com – 11 November 2004]