France takes command of NRF VJTF

France is leading the NRF VJTF in 2022. (NATO)

France took the lead of the NATO Response Force (NRF) Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) on 1 January 2022, NATO announced on its website on 29 December.

The Franco-German Brigade, led by France's Rapid Reaction Corps headquarters in Lille, is providing 3,500 troops for the VJTF core, taking over from Turkey. The VJTF will draw mainly on the French Army's 1st Infantry Regiment and 3rd Hussar Regiment, France's contribution to the Franco-German Brigade. In addition to France and Germany, Spain, Portugal, and Poland will provide forces to the VJTF.

NATO said Germany would then take lead of the VJTF in 2023. The German Army reported on its website on 16 December that its Panzergrenadierbrigade (Armoured Infantry Brigade) 37 was preparing to be part of the VJTF, following training in Bergen in May 2021 and at the Gefechtsübungszentrum (GÜZ) combat training centre in Altmark in November 2021. The brigade is expected to be certified for the NRF during the second quarter of 2022 after a multinational exercise involving 5,000 troops from nine nations in Bergen in May.

The NRF is under the overall command of Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), and NATO's Joint Force Command (JFC) in Brunssum, the Netherlands, will be the lead headquarters in 2022.