Strategic Landpower in NATO Vital for U.S
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Association of the United States Army Voice for the Army—Support for the Soldier October 2014 Strategic Landpower in NATO Vital for U.S. Security Allied Land Command is the leading advocate for soldiers and land forces in NATO, responsible for ensuring their effectiveness and interoperability. Lieutenant General Frederick B. Hodges, USA Commander, NATO Allied Land Command* Introduction Today’s global security environment is defined by its complexity, unpredictability and the increasing momentum of human interaction; it is the essence of the joint and combined force to remain trained and fully ready to meet any challenge. Strategic land- power—the application of land forces (Army, Marine Corps and special operations forces) toward achiev- ing strategic outcomes across the range of military operations—provides a critical hedge against this un- certain future. The role of strategic landpower is to shape and prevail within the human domain, creating conditions that stabilize people’s daily dealings with one another and generate momentum to bring about and combined-arms capabilities to dominate the en- the nation’s strategic objectives. vironment; and winning decisively when called. The Army is sustaining its commitment to maintain strong Even as the Department of Defense (DoD) rebal- relationships and interoperability with its proven ances its posture to the Asia–Pacific region, Europe partners in NATO. A large part of this effort is on- will continue to require a strong commitment from going by means of NATO’s Allied Land Command the United States, including responsive, adaptive and (LANDCOM). Established in 2012, it is the newest regionally engaged forces to maintain security and single-service command of NATO’s military arm and stability. The European security environment is still consists of more than 350 personnel billets from 23 unpredictable and uncertain, evidenced by the recent nations. Located in Izmir, Turkey, its mandate is to Vital for U.S. SecurityVital U.S. for Russian seizure of Crimea. The long-standing part- ensure that multinational forces retain the hard les- nerships developed through the North Atlantic Trea- sons learned over a decade by NATO troops serving ty Organization (NATO) will continue to play a vital in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) deterrence role not only against further Russian ag- in Afghanistan. On any given day, at least a third of gression but also in the U.S. military’s larger global the command’s assigned personnel are regionally strategy. The forward operating bases in Europe pro- engaged on temporary duty across Europe, either in vide essential access in the eastern Mediterranean and land forces operational capability, headquarters oper- Strategic in NATO Landpower the Levant, as well as in North Africa. In addition, ational readiness and/or land advocacy. about half of the world trade flows across the Atlantic between the United States and Europe; this trade is of Background vital importance to the U.S. economy. Founded in 1949, NATO binds North America— The U.S. Army—globally responsive, regionally the United States and Canada—and 26 European na- engaged—contributes by preventing conflict through tions in an Alliance to safeguard the freedom and se- credible capacity, readiness and modernization; shap- curity of the Allied nations. Acting within the bounds ing the international environment through sustaining of international treaty law, NATO efforts are focused strong relationships, building partner capacity and fa- on three core tasks: collective defense, crisis manage- cilitating strategic access; applying mission command ment and cooperative security. When NATO’s politi- *Addressing students at U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, KS, 4 April 2013 duct comprehensive operational-level campaign planning and to deploy into theater as a joint task force headquarters (JTF HQ). At the component or tactical level, NATO has placed three single-service component command headquar- ters alongside the two JFCs: LANDCOM; Air Command (AIRCOM) in Ramstein, Germany; and Maritime Com- mand (MARCOM) in Northwood, United Kingdom. When LANDCOM announces full operational capability (FOC) in December 2014, it will be the only deployable component in the transformed NATO structure and will be prepared to op- erate as the land component command (LCC) in the JTF HQ. Before LANDCOM, there were two land force head- quarters in NATO: Forces Command Heidelberg (Germa- ny) and Forces Command Madrid (Spain). As part of ACO ACO – Allied Command Operations reformation, both of these headquarters were deactivated. AIRCOM – Air Command CFI – Connected Forces Initiative The missions and resources of these two former land force CGSC – Command and General Staff College headquarters were fully realigned into a single land force CIS – Computer Information Services headquarters in compliance with the 2010 NATO Strategic DoD – Department of Defense Concept. This has greatly improved the NATO Force Struc- FOC – Full Operational Capability ture (NFS) efficiency and effectiveness. GRF-Ls – Graduated Readiness Forces for Land NFS consists of organizational arrangements that bring ISAF – International Security Assistance Force together the forces placed at the Alliance’s disposal by the JFCs – Joint Force Commands member countries, along with their associated mission JFC-BS – Joint Force Command–Brunssum JFC-NP – Joint Force Command–Naples command structures. LANDCOM operations are conduct- JFC HQ – Joint Force Command Headquarters ed across all NATO nations (including the Baltic Nations: JMTC – Joint Military Training Center Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) to ensure all are fully ca- JTF HQ – Joint Task Force Headquarters pable of conducting interoperable maneuvers. These forces LANDCOM – Allied Land Command are available for NATO operations in accordance with pre- LCC – Land Component Command determined readiness criteria and with rules of deployment LRTP – Long-Range Training Plan and transfer of authority to NATO command that can vary MARCOM – Maritime Command from country to country. Within this NFS, nine multination- MTS – Mutual Training Support al Graduated Readiness Forces for Land (GRF-Ls) support NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organization NATO’s land forces requirements and look to LANDCOM NCS – NATO Command Structure for advocacy as well as evaluation and certification. NFS – NATO Force Structure NRF – NATO Response Force These GRF-Ls contribute land forces to the NATO Re- SACEUR – Supreme Allied Commander Europe sponse Force (NRF) on a rotational basis, committing for a USAREUR – U.S. Army Europe 12-month period. The NRF is a high-readiness, technolog- USEUCOM – U.S. European Command ically advanced multinational force made up of land, air, maritime and special operations forces components that the cal decisions have military implications, LANDCOM con- Alliance can deploy rapidly. Leadership of the NRF rotates tributes to implementation of these core tasks, acting within between JFC-BS and JFC-NP. The NRF comprises a joint the NATO Command Structure (NCS). This command struc- force of about 13,000 high-readiness troops provided by ture is based on functionality rather than geography, with Allies. NATO is also looking at adding a “high-readiness three tiers of command: strategic, operational and tactical. joint task force” or “spearhead force” to the NRF that would At the strategic level, Allied Command Operations be instrumental in identifiying the capabilities, equipment, (ACO) is commanded by the Supreme Allied Commander personnel and doctrine of this new high-readiness NATO military unit, capable of deploying anywhere in the Europe- Europe (SACEUR). The SACEUR also serves as the com- an region within 48 hours. mander of the U.S. European Command (USEUCOM), as many of the responsibilities of the two commands overlap. LANDCOM Priorities and Initiatives The operational level consists of two joint force commands To deal with current threats in the security environ- (JFCs): one (JFC-BS) in Brunssum, the Netherlands, and the ment, NATO has transitioned to a new and more efficient other (JFC-NP) in Naples, Italy. Each is prepared to con- preparatory model and has developed a new vision called 2 www.ausa.org Allied Land Command Allied Command Operations NATO Communications and Intelligence Agency Allied Command Brussels, Belgium Operations Mons, Belgium NATO Standardization Agency Brussels, Belgium Joint Warfare Center Stavanger, Norway Allied Joint Force Allied Joint Force Allied Air Command Command Command Allied Command Operations Ramstein, Germany Brunssum, The Netherlands Naples, Italy Mons, Belgium Allied Joint Force Command – Brunssum Brunssum, The Netherlands NATO Special Operations Headquarters 1 (German/Netherlands) Corps Allied Land Command Allied Maritime Command Mons, Belgium Münster, Germany Izmir, Turkey Northwood, Great Britain Multinational Corps – Northeast Szczecin, Poland NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control Force Command Mons, Belgium Joint Forces Training Center Allied Command Transformation Bydgoszcz, Poland Allied Rapid Reaction Corps Allied Command Innsworth, Great Britain Transformation Allied Air Command Ramstein, Germany Norfolk, VA, U.S. Allied Maritime Command Northwood, Great Britain NATO School Oberammergau, Germany Joint Analysis and NATO Rapid Deployable Corps – Italy Joint Warfare Centre Joint Forces Training Centre Lessons Learned Centre Solbiate, Italy Stavanger, Norway Bydgoszcz, Poland Monsanto, Portugal NATO Defense College