Training, planning to be among NATO transformation goals

NATO should prioritise a new approach to training and more coherence in allied defence planning in the alliance's transformation goals, says General Jean-Paul Palomeros, NATO's newly appointed Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT). Making better use of the NATO Response Force is another goal, he said.

"We need to find a co-ordinated response to the budget cuts of our era," Gen Palomeros said on 14 January. "We need to think about the redeployment of forces from Afghanistan and how to maintain that interoperability [developed between International Security Assistance Force partners over the years] in view of CFI [NATO's Connected Forces Initiative]. That is my highest priority."

With overall responsibility for NATO training entrusted to Allied Command Operations since December, he said: "We will come up with a new training concept to ensure more synergy between the allies. ACT will make proposals in the field of e-Learning to train our soldiers in today's new environment and to gain savings."

Noting that NATO is "one of the main providers of e-Learning in the world," Gen Palomeros said: "We have trained more than 6,000 people at 14 centres [in Europe and the US] simultaneously via simulation techniques. This is going to provide real value-added to training."