On the 22nd of May, the Allied Chiefs of Defence gathered for their Military Committee in Chiefs of Defence Session at NATO Headquarters in Brussels.
The meetings are led by Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach, Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, and supported in each session by General André Lanata, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, and General Tod D. Wolters, newly-appointed Supreme Allied Commander Europe.
The Chiefs of Defence discussed NATO’s current and future strategic challenges as well as NATO’s Military Strategy, its Deterrence and Defence Posture, the Alliance’s Readiness Initiative, NATO’s Partnerships and its Enhanced Forward Presence.
In its seventy years, NATO has kept its allies safe by continuously adapting to new security challenges; today’s rapid-changing security environment requires NATO decision-makers, like the Military Committee, to push forward in multiple directions: cyber, hybrid threats, modernization of the military command structure.
To tackle these issues, the Chiefs of Defence met with their Operational Partners and exchanged views on the current situation in Crimea; the engagement with other international actors and organisations, including the United Nations, the European Union, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and the African Union; the strategic force hubs and their role in providing situational awareness and conduction training.
Also discussed was the NATO Command Structure and NATO Force Generation, the procedure by which Allies and partner countries resource the personnel and equipment needed to carry out North Atlantic Council-approved requirements, operations and missions.
“Our final goal, with [Allied Command Operations] at our side, is to provide to warfighters the appropriate military tools, regarding the challenging environment, and allow them to accomplish their mission and guarantee security of Alliance’s members,” said General Lanata to highlight how Allied Command Transformation can support NATO’s future.
Allied Command Transformation, as the Alliance’s Warfare Development Command, seeks to optimize NATO’s ability to meet the challenges of the future security environment. The organisation, with its partners, intends to design NATO’s coherent military instrument for today and tomorrow. With the fast pace of technological advance in defence matters, it is paramount to maintain this role in order to keep the Alliance’s edge.