Non-Subscriber Extract
New roles and missions dictate NATO agenda
- Article Tools
| 13 May 2005 |
By Guy Toremans
Exercise 'Loyal Mariner 05' was a major NATO exercise intended to provide combat readiness and certification training for the maritime component of the NATO Response Force (NRF). The exercise took place in the North Sea, Skagerak, Kattegat and adjacent Danish, Norwegian and Swedish territorial waters from 11-29 April 2005.
During the second week of the exercise JNI talked to Rear Adm Wolfgang Kalähne, who became the new commander of the Standing NATO Response Force Maritime Group 1 (SNMG1) on 5 April, when the force made a port visit in Aalborg, Denmark.
One of Adm Kalähne's major concerns is that navies are being forced to decrease assets and personnel in light of cuts in defence budgets. "Smaller budgets make it hard for countries to comply with national and NATO commitments. Shortfalls negatively affect SNMG1 - 'traditional' contributors are offering units to only one of the two SNMGs at the same time. It is imperative that the assets assigned to a SNMG should be fully operational, because we are a high-readiness force."
SNMG1's first priority is NRF tasks. However, Adm Kalähne stated: "Each year, at the operational planning conference, it is decided what activities will be included in our programme for the coming year and which operational aspects will be focused on. For next year these are, in order of priority: to train the NRF; the NATO command structure, for example, Combined Joint Task Force [CJTF] capabilities and the integration of the Graduated Readiness Force HQs [GRFHQs]; and to achieve maximum interoperability in joint multinational operations with assigned forces of new NATO nations and with forces from Partnership for Peace nations."
He continued: "Looking to 2006 we will take part in a major NATO exercise, in which all NRF maritime, air and land assets are scheduled to participate." This exercise will be the ultimate test to prove that NATO's NRF has reached full operational capability.
Adm Kalähne remarked that in every NATO exercise or operation there are lessons to be learned and shortfalls to be discovered. "It is obvious that we should focus on littoral warfare and the 'sea-to-land' environment. In view of our participation in crisis-response operations and non-combatant evacuation operations, the inclusion of amphibious assets is imperative. In fact, we are already looking into ways to temporarily allocate amphibious and marine assets into standing naval forces for short durations to enhance our abilities in this area."
396 of 1,379 words