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02 3 2015

NCI Agency attends Exercise Allied Spirit Distinguished Visitors Day

Exercise Allied Spirit I

In support of a "Strong Europe", U.S. Army Europe conducted Exercise Allied Spirit I at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany, from 12 to 31 January 2015.

The purpose of Exercise Allied Spirit was to conduct multinational training and improve Allied inter-operability and co-operation between U.S. and NATO forces. The Exercise included more than 2,000 participants from NATO Nations, exercising tactical inter-operability and testing secure communications within Alliance members.

Distinguished Visitors Day

The Distinguished Visitors Day began with a briefing by Lieutenant General Hodges on U.S. Army Europe's approach to "Strong Europe", which provides the framework for relationships, capabilities, infrastructure, and exercises that assure access for the Army and US interests. "Strong Europe" supports U.S. Operation Atlantic Resolve which demonstrates U.S. commitment to NATO, and to collective defence through increased U.S. ground, air, and naval force presence in Europe.

The visitors then received an explanation of Allied Spirit, followed by demonstrations on Brigade Forward Command Post and Tactical Operations Centre; Opposing Forces environment management; and reconnaissance and attack.

Interest in partnering with the Agency

Dr Shalamanov also took the opportunity to visit the Joint Multinational Training Command (JMTC) to discuss training and exercises with Mr Stacy Ware, Assistant Chief of Staff G6. Mr Ware expressed a strong interest in partnering with NCI Agency to establish a permanent connection to the NATO communications network and to provide support for NATO Functional Area Training to units conducting training at the JMTC.

Mr Ware stated that, "Our two organizations can complement each other in the pursuit of this goal. This would also allow for JMTC to have a more robust connection into the NATO Connected Initiative moving forward."

With such an initiative in place, it is felt that JMTC could act as Higher Level Control for NATO and national exercises for the NATO Rapid Deployment Corps 'at the Brigade level' in direct support of the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) development.

Overall, this was an exceptionally valuable visit for the NCI Agency, reinforcing the Agency´s strong personal relationship with LGEN Hodges and establishing a new relationship with U.S. Army Europe and JMTC, which has considerable potential to enhance the Alliance´s support to the VJTF.

Further details on Exercise Allied Spirit can be found here.

Further details on Operation Atlantic Resolve can be found here.