NATO has created a task force that will identify ways the alliance can bolster its capabilities and purchasing power in a time of shrinking defense budgets, according to a top general.
The group will deliver ideas and proposals for "innovative, multinational approaches to capability development" by September, French Air Force Gen. Stéphane Abrial, NATO supreme allied commander, transformation, said during a briefing in Washington.
Defense ministers from NATO nations agreed to organize the task force during meetings in Brussels last week. U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Carol Pottenger, deputy chief of staff for capability and development at NATO's Norfolk, Va.-based Allied Transformation Command (ACT), is overseeing the effort. The team is made up of officials from NATO headquarters, ACT and member nations.
"We need to be able to do better with less in the future," Abrial said, noting the 28 NATO member governments do not want the financial crisis to turn into a security crisis. "Therefore we have to redouble our efforts to see how we can be more effective and more efficient."
ACT is responsible for preparing NATO troops for near-term and future conflicts and identifying capability gaps.
The task force is exploring the nations' capabilities for all types of conflicts and looking for innovative solutions and multinational approaches. At the same time, ACT and the European Defense Agency are working together to avoid duplication in numerous areas, including countering improvised explosive devices, medical support and network-centric operations, Abrial said.
"This means that the nations have embarked in a more multinational vision of capability development," he said, noting this includes doctrine, organization, training and equipment.
The task force is looking at smaller cooperation agreements within NATO that could ease procurement issues, according to Abrial. This means all 28 member nations would not have to contribute to every initiative.
"If you try to procure at 28, then it might take quite awhile to get an agreement and in order to get to the agreement, you will have to make compromises and to include some parts of ambiguity, which you will pay at the end in terms of time and cost," he said.
"My understanding is that there will be a good portion of JFCOM which will stay in the Norfolk-Suffolk area, specifically which is dealing with modeling and simulation," Abrial said.
The French general expects to work more closely with the Joint Staff, which will assume the JFCOM headquarters-type roles. The rest of the responsibilities will be "distributed somehow across the different institutions in the U.S., and we have started to look at how we will re-plug into this much more distributed system," Abrial said, noting he is still awaiting U.S. decisions on JFCOM's eventual shut down.
"Working in a distributed environment will not be totally new for us because we have been working already with other entities from JFCOM," he said. "We have close contact with Cyber Command" and the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Disposal Organization, he said.
Abrial said DoD will rely on ACT more than in the past to complete some functions they once jointly tackled with JFCOM.
"My impression is that with the disestablishment of JFCOM, the work between the U.S. defense institution and ACT will even increase as compared to the past," he said.
The group will deliver ideas and proposals for "innovative, multinational approaches to capability development" by September, French Air Force Gen. Stéphane Abrial, NATO supreme allied commander, transformation, said during a briefing in Washington.
Defense ministers from NATO nations agreed to organize the task force during meetings in Brussels last week. U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Carol Pottenger, deputy chief of staff for capability and development at NATO's Norfolk, Va.-based Allied Transformation Command (ACT), is overseeing the effort. The team is made up of officials from NATO headquarters, ACT and member nations.
"We need to be able to do better with less in the future," Abrial said, noting the 28 NATO member governments do not want the financial crisis to turn into a security crisis. "Therefore we have to redouble our efforts to see how we can be more effective and more efficient."
ACT is responsible for preparing NATO troops for near-term and future conflicts and identifying capability gaps.
The task force is exploring the nations' capabilities for all types of conflicts and looking for innovative solutions and multinational approaches. At the same time, ACT and the European Defense Agency are working together to avoid duplication in numerous areas, including countering improvised explosive devices, medical support and network-centric operations, Abrial said.
"This means that the nations have embarked in a more multinational vision of capability development," he said, noting this includes doctrine, organization, training and equipment.
The task force is looking at smaller cooperation agreements within NATO that could ease procurement issues, according to Abrial. This means all 28 member nations would not have to contribute to every initiative.
"If you try to procure at 28, then it might take quite awhile to get an agreement and in order to get to the agreement, you will have to make compromises and to include some parts of ambiguity, which you will pay at the end in terms of time and cost," he said.
Impact of U.S. Joint Forces Command Closure
Abrial expects ACT to continue working closely with the Pentagon even after U.S. Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) closes. ACT and JFCOM are co-located in Norfolk, Va. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced plans to close JFCOM in April 2010."My understanding is that there will be a good portion of JFCOM which will stay in the Norfolk-Suffolk area, specifically which is dealing with modeling and simulation," Abrial said.
The French general expects to work more closely with the Joint Staff, which will assume the JFCOM headquarters-type roles. The rest of the responsibilities will be "distributed somehow across the different institutions in the U.S., and we have started to look at how we will re-plug into this much more distributed system," Abrial said, noting he is still awaiting U.S. decisions on JFCOM's eventual shut down.
"Working in a distributed environment will not be totally new for us because we have been working already with other entities from JFCOM," he said. "We have close contact with Cyber Command" and the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Disposal Organization, he said.
Abrial said DoD will rely on ACT more than in the past to complete some functions they once jointly tackled with JFCOM.
"My impression is that with the disestablishment of JFCOM, the work between the U.S. defense institution and ACT will even increase as compared to the past," he said.
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