During Exercise Steadfast Juncture 2011 which took place in Lithuania from November 1 to 12 readiness level of the Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum (JFC-B) (Netherlands) to take the lead of the NATO Response Force (NRF) in 2012 was evaluated. The event involved military and civilian personnel of several NATO commands and headquarters which had been chosen for duty in NRF in 2012.
Command Post Exercise, which was located in the Pabradės Training Area, tested and provided evaluation of functioning of JFC-B command, control, communications, and information systems, readiness of the command post for deployment, operations and sustention, and collaboration with other forces.
Certification of NRF was based on a crisis response operations scenario involving deployment over a long distance beyond the Alliance's borders and fulfillment of certain tasks. "We generated a scenario reflecting all the typical challenges NATO forces face in modern world," said Maj Gen Jean Fred Berger, commander of the NATO's Joint Warfare Centre (Norway) and officer in charge of the scenario of Steadfast Juncture 2011.
During the Exercise events were organised to give a closer view on the event for Lithuanian and foreign political and military representatives, including Minister of National Defence of Lithuania Rasa Juknevičienė and Chief of Defence of Lithuania Lt Gen Arvydas Pocius, Minister of Defence of Latvia Dr. Artis Pabriks and Chief of Defence of Latvia Maj Gen Raimondas Graube.
Lithuania has been a host of such NATO exercise for the first time. "As a host nation Lithuania has done a really great job to have the Exercise go smoothly. "My implication regarding the best reviews of the Exercise Command and of JFC Commander is that Lithuania has established a higher standard for such exercise and reaffirmed its name as a reliable NATO country," Chief of Defence of Lithuania Lt Gen Arvydas Pocius commented on the Exercise.
During the Exercise a Deployable Command Post brought from Italy was stationed in the Pabradės Training Area and provided shelter and workspace for several hundred of military and civilian personnel from al the Alliance's countries as well as NATO partner countries. Lithuanian company which will end its tour of duty in NRF this year was in charge of protecting the command post throughout the Exercise.
Steadfast Juncture 2011 took place simultaneously in 6 more countries apart from Lithuania: Greece, Italy, Germany, Spain, Norway and the Czech Republic, and data exchange was ensured over the NATO communications and information systems.
In line with respective requirements, the NRF rotation for 2012 was certified in Steadfast Juncture 2011 as highly ready and technologically advanced, comprising land, air, maritime and special operations forces components, and deployable within an especially short time to operations in any region of the world.
PAO JHQ Capt Marius Varna. Pictures by Jan Hecht.
