News

Allied Command Transformation (ACT) is competing this summer against the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) for a highly coveted and prestigious award.

Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain Her Excellency Ms Houda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo and Ambassador of the Sultanate of Oman Her Excellency Hunaina Al-Mughairy, visited Headquarters, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (HQ SACT) July 13th.

While at the headquarters, Nonoo (number two from left) and Mughairy (right) met with HQ SACT's Political Advisor, Ambassador Ravic Huso (middle), and others in the Command leadership.

Polish Land Forces Commander, Lieutenant General Zbigniew Glowienka, recently visited Headquarters, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (HQ SACT) for discussions with Command leadership

Lieutenant General Glowienka met with Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, Polish Army, General Mieczyslaw Bieniek, for a Command briefing and a round table discussion. ACT's goal is to provide the Member Nations the best security return possible on their investments.

Ambassador of Poland to the United Nations, His Excellency Mr Witold Sobkow, visited Headquarters, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (HQ SACT) recently for discussions with Command leadership.

While at the headquarters, Sobkow met with Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, Polish Army General Mieczyslaw Bieniek, to discuss NATO's transformation through Comprehensive Approach, Education and Training, and Medical projects. ACT's goal is to provide Member Nations the best security return possible on their investments.

To show the United Kingdom's continued support for Allied Command Transformation's (ACT) role in NATO Defence Planning, Smart Defence, and Allied Command Transformation mission,

Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (DSACT), General Mieczyslaw Bieniek held a series of meetings with Georgian officials to discuss further developments in the relationship between Georgia and ACT as well as the transformation of Georgian Armed Forces. The meetings were held in Tbilisi, Georgia, on 22 June 2012.

General Bieniek met with, among others, Georgian Deputy Secretary of National Security Council, Mr. Batu Kutelia; Chief of Joint Staff of the Georgian Armed Forces, LtGen Devi Tchankotadze and his deputy Colonel Lasha Beridze and the Deputy Minister of Defence, Mr. Nodar Kharshiladze.

Bieniek acknowledged the role Georgia played in ISAF operations, stating, "We are grateful for Georgia's involvement in Afghanistan".

During the visit to the National Security Council, Deputy Secretary Kutelia, stated that "NATO is a priority of foreign policy of the country and Georgia is fully committed to meet NATO requirements and standards set for Armed Forces as necessary to join the Alliance".

Deputy Secretary Kutelia, Declared,"Georgia is ready to take all actions necessary to assure her membership of the Alliance", Kutelia then discussed Georgian satisfaction with solid reaffirmation of "open door" policy and statement of US Secretary of State that this should be the last "non-enlargement" summit.

"Georgia is happy to accept Chicago Summit's +4 format to continue" said Deputy Secretary Kutelia." Kutelia inquired as to how Georgia "can better reach out to other aspirant countries and enhance their cooperation".

Discussions focused on, among other things, outcomes from the Chicago Summit, Smart Defense, Alliance Cooperation, and education and training opportunities offered by Allied Command Transformation (ACT).

Seeking to create a closer and deeper cooperation among Partners and Allies General Bieniek iterated that "National Liaison Officer's should be utilised extensively with regards to the Implementation Plan in order to assure proper coordination of efforts".

Discussions often focused on ACT's concentration on military-to-military cooperation and over 67 Georgia-NATO initiatives that are currently ongoing. "This is indicative of efficient cooperation" said General Bieniek, going on to say, "ACT is dedicated and supportive to the Georgian efforts in the field of education and training".

During his meeting with Chief of Joint Staff of the Georgian Armed Forces, DSACT extended an invitation to Georgia to participate in Comprehensive Operational Planning courses in Estonia, as well as in other ACT events, such as the Chiefs of Transformation Conference (CoTC) which according to General Bieniek, "will greatly enhance the level of NATO-related expertise in the Georgian Armed Forces". The invitation was well received and LTGEN Tchankotadze, the "country wants to make maximum use of NATO education and training opportunities".

To conclude his visit to Georgia, Bieniek proceeded to the newly rebuilt National Defence Academy (NDA) and spoke to an audience about the role of ACT and answered questions regarding procedural aspects of membership in the Alliance.

Joint Forces Training Centre (JFTC) in Bydgoszcz, Poland held the 2012 Coalition Warrior Interoperability eXploration, eXperimentation, eXamination, eXercise also known as CWIX from 4 -22 June 2012.

55 nations gather together to discuss partnerships and the way ahead

One month after the Chicago Summit, NATO allies and partners met in Zagreb, Croatia for an exchange of views at the 2012 Strategic Military Partnership Conference (SMPC) from June 18-20.

The NATO Communications and Information Systems School (NCISS) hosted an Allied Command Transformation (ACT) led annual training event from 11-14 June 2012 in Latina, Italy. Over 48 students from numerous commands and partner countries attended the event to learn how to plan, develop and maintain e-Learning.

"This was the fourth year we have led this training event, and this year was our largest audience, clearly stating that e-Learning is a growing capability within NATO, NATO nations and partners", said Paul Thurkettle from the ACT Joint Education, Training and Exercise Division.

As part of the courses students were required to build a programme from concept based on the structure and function of NCSA and NCISS. Between the individual track theory sessions, the practical is woven in over the four days with the teams presenting their newly designed programme and experiences on the last day. "It is quite amazing how good the final presentations are considering on day one most of the students have no experience in e-Learning", said Dr. Gökay Sϋrsal, ACT section head.

"By continuing to build our community, it helps ACT and NATO as these teams will provide content that can be used by all of NATO and our nations" stated Thurkettle.

ACT leads NATO's development of e-Learning. Courses can be found at https://jadl.act.nato.int

"Evidence Based Support to Decision Makers" was the focus of the 6th annual NATO Operational Analysis (OA) conference organised by Allied Command Transformation (ACT). The annual conference aims to coordinate and improve the contributions of operational analysis within operations and capability development to NATO.

The NATO OA conference was hosted by NATO Consultation, Command and Control Agency (NC3A), and convened on 13-14 June 2012 in The Hague, Netherlands. Attendees included operational research analysts from academia, industry, NATO, NATO nations, and NATO accredited Centre's of Excellence (COE).

Notable speakers at the conference included ACT's Brigadier General Giovannie Fungo, Assistant Chief Of Staff (ACOS) Capability Engineering ; Brigadier General Peter Sonneby, Commander of NATO's Joint Analysis and Lessons Learned Centre (JALLC); and Mr. Paul Comeau, Chief Scientist of the Centre for Operational Research and Analysis (CORA), Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC).

The conference encouraged dialogue among participants in an effort to share new ideas and best practices. A pre-conference workshop titled "Operational Analysis in a Restructured NATO" was held on 12 June and focused on developing a vision for implementing OA across NATO. Results from the workshop will be included in a study on requirements for operational research and analysis in NATO; a study that is tasked by NATO Nations and to be led by the new NATO Chief Scientist.

The "To Be Secure" (2BS) Forum organized by the Atlantic Council of Montenegro kicked off in Podgorica, Montenegro on 5 June 2012.

The forum facilitated in depth discussion of the most important dilemmas in the field of international security and cooperation, current security related issues, the latest political developments and challenges posed by the global economic and financial crisis (with focus on the Balkans).

Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (DSACT), General Mieczysław Bieniek, on opening remarks underlined that "NATO's intent is to continue to act as a facilitator for Allies' cooperation and encourage multinational initiatives with supporting policy and mechanisms that can truly enable a new culture of cooperation".

The meeting highlighted NATO standards as a very important reference for Partners' Armed Forces in all aspects of military transformation in order to meet future membership and partnership requirements in the best possible way.

Representatives from many Allied and Partner countries from the region participated in the forum. General Bieniek, in addition to his keynote, participated in the discussions of a follow-on panel related to the outcome of the NATO Summit in Chicago in May and the Smart Defence initiative.

The "key aspect of the Defence Package is the strong emphasis on how to institutionalize Smart Defence into regular NATO processes and structures" said Bieniek, going further to state that "The Chicago Summit was not an end but rather a key milestone for validation of the work that Alliance has embarked upon".

General Mieczyslaw Bieniek, Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, signed a Memorandum on Collaboration (MoC) between the Estonian Defence Forces (EDF) and ACT in Tallinn on 28 May 2012.

NATO hosted a panel discussion today on "Simulation as a Capability Development Enabler" as part of its participation in the 2012 International Defence Education and Training Conference (ITEC) in London, Great Britain. Attendees included subject matter experts and other representatives from both Industry and Academia.

The audience heard remarks from senior Flag and General officers from NATO's Allied Command Transformation (ACT), the Joint Warfare Centre in Stavanger, Norway and the Joint Force Training Centre in Bydgoszcz, Poland, as well as the NATO Undersea Research Centre in La Spezia, Italy and the NATO Modelling and Simulation Centre of Excellence in Rome, Italy.

The panel described the current state of Modelling and Simulation (M&S) in driving the capability development for NATO forces, to include recent technological advances in networked training solutions and the future potential of such tools.

ACT's Assistant Chief of Staff for Capability Engineering, Brigadier General Giovanni Fungo defined Modelling and Simulation as a methodology to ensure that troops and staff receive realistic training while living within fiscal and environmental realities.

The panel session focused on how key ACT organisations are putting M&S technologies to best use within the NATO command and force structure. A good example of this is ACT's improvement of Concept Development through the use of simulation.

Panel members also reinforced the value of distributed, networked training architectures and the ways in which technological interoperability is driving operational improvements in NATO through joint exercises to real world missions.

The panel was followed by a question and answer session focused on the future of NATO's efforts in education and training with a specific question on post-2014 Afghanistan.

ACT's Joint Force Trainer, Lieutenant General Karl Heinz Viereck noted that current training and exercises are designed to prepare NATO forces for diverse environments and operations across a range of mission sets. While the political realities today are country-specific, the focus of Alliance efforts for the future are deliberately more generic in order to provide credibility to NATO's focus on the decades to come, without regard to where global security might require engagement.

Finally, Brigadier General Fungo addressed the need for closer collaboration with Industry and Academia to ensure that NATO remains on the leading edge of innovation as a complement to NATO's own development of modeling and simulation solutions to future challenges.

"Allied Command Transformation has an Office of Academia and Industry which is headed by Brigadier General Fungo that ensures that ACT is closely connected with Academia and Industry. It is just one more way that ACT is providing value for money to the Alliance." Said Wayne Buck.

With NATO Allied Command Transformation's (ACT) footprint at ITEC increasing year by year, each event brings new importance. ITEC 2012 addressed subjects of crucial significance across civil and military sectors, among which was the design and acquisition of the best training solutions, an area of particular interest to ACT.

"ITEC has a missing piece" said Wayne Buck, the organiser of the NATO VIP Day, "the customer is not represented in a well thought out methodical manner. It is our intention to assist ITEC with bringing the customer to the conference and exhibition so that the customer may benefit more."

This year ITEC held a "NATO VIP Day" with Flag and General Officers from various NATO commands touring many of the exhibitor booths and receiving briefings and demonstrations from subject matter experts and industry executives. The presentations were a snapshot of the most up-to-date technological advancements in modelling and simulation applications for military Education & Training and other domains.

The VIP day also served to present a unified presence of the multiple NATO commands utilising modelling and simulation in their current training efforts. The group engagement with Industry and Academia is demonstrative of NATO's intent to interact more effectively with private companies as part of the Secretary General's Smart Defence initiative.

This was also the first time that these commanders came together to share knowledge and explain their use of modelling and simulation within their respective organisations. This exchange of awareness and ideas is another example of how the Alliance is finding new ways to cooperate and collaborate in the interest of creating better capabilities in a more cost effective manner.

"Modelling and simulation is an important part of every training event held at our training centres. We need to ensure that the centres are well represented and state their requirements in a well thought out and constructive manner" said Brigadier General Fungo, ACT's Assistant Chief of Staff for Capability Engineering.

Specific organisations that were visited included: QinetiQ, a designer of training techniques; Finmeccanica, a prime contractor for the NATO Centre of Excellence for Modeling & Simulation in Rome, Italy; CAE, with new education and training techniques using serious games that are of interest to NATO; Alelo, a small corporation invested in cultural awareness and language training; and 4C Strategies, who discussed the company's involvement in PfP training and Exercise Viking.

Of these exhibitor visits, one of the highlights was Bohemia, the developer of VBS Worlds, a program in which NATO has recently invested, where the VIPs received updates on how the latest in the product's development will affect their organisations.

"I can assure you that NATO will be at ITEC 2013 in Rome and that we will endevour to encourage commanders and staffs to participate and explain their requirements." Said Buck.

On the heels of the NATO Summit in Chicago where the future of NATO capabilities were discussed, ACT participated in the Defence Training Simulation and Education Conference commonly called ITEC in London, England.

Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia, Lieutenant General Drago Lovric and Commander of the National Armed Forces of Latvia, Major General Raimonds Graube visited Headquarters, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation Wednesday, May 23, for office calls with Command leadership.

It was Lieutenant General Lovric's first official visit to ACT. His predecessor, General Josep Lucic visited ACT the last time in January 2011. Lovric met with Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, French Air Force General Stephane Abrial.

Major General Graube discussed co-operation initiatives and post NATO Summit follow on work with General Abrial and Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, Polish Army General Mieczyslaw Bieniek. Graube provided a brief on the Latvian Armed Forces Development Plan 2012 -2024.

Allied Command Transformation (ACT) is at the forefront of the Smart Defence initiative aiming at greater security with smarter spending. ACT assist and informs Alliance discussions and decision-making by facilitating multinational and innovative approaches to capability development.

Top photo: General Abrial with Major General Raimonds Graube;
Bottom photo: General Abrial with Lieutenant General Grago Lovric

The Medical Branch of Allied Command Transformation is continuously working to improve delivery of medical care, and to share medical expertise across NATO and with the international medical community.

Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces, General Mieczyslaw Cieniuch visited Headquarters, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation Tuesday May 22, for office calls with Command leadership.

While at ACT, General Cieniuch met with Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, French Air Force General Stephane Abrial, to follow up on discussions which took place during the NATO Summit in Chicago.

Since 1998 General Cieniuch has held a series of joint and strategic assignments. On 7 May 2012 he assumed the position of the Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces, the highest military post in Poland.

In parallel with the NATO Summit in Chicago, the Atlantic Council arranged a conference gathering Young Professionals and students from NATO and partner countries from across the globe, in Chicago.

The NATO Summit in Chicago, Illinois formally kicked off Sunday afternoon 20 May, but already early morning on Saturday the Alliance's Secretary General spoke to the participants at the NATO "Youth Summit".

And simultaneously in Norfolk, Virginia, the first Allied Command Transformation Social Media experiment began final execution.