The Integrated Air and Missile Defence Centre of Excellence is supporting the development of NATO’s capabilities in this area by increasing outreach between NATO stakeholders and academia, as well as by driving interoperability through education, training, and doctrine development.
The Integrated Air and Missile Defence Centre of Excellence is located in Chania, Greece, and received its official accreditation by the North Atlantic Council on January 25, 2021. The mission of the Centre is twofold. First, to enhance interoperability and support the development and exploitation of Integrated Air and Missile Defence capabilities of NATO, Allies, and Partners based on modern requirements. Second, to enable Education and Training, Analysis and Lessons Learned, Concept Development and Experimentation, and Doctrine Development and Standards in support of this first objective. In doing so, the Centre aims to become a focal point of knowledge and expertise that supports NATO’s capability development and transformation efforts in a cooperative and cost-efficient way.
The Centre’s Programme of Work is structured in line with the four pillars of NATO’s Centre of Excellence programme, with emphasis on growing its connections with Integrated Air and Missile Defence stakeholders in NATO and academia. The Centre considerably strengthened its relationship with the Integrated Air and Missile Defence community of interest within NATO this year with the successful execution of the 1st Integrated Air and Missile Defence Annual Coordination Meeting in May. Chaired by the Centre’s Deputy Director, Colonel Murat Torumtay, this meeting brought together NATO stakeholders to synchronize efforts and identify collaboration opportunities in the area of Integrated Air and Missile Defence, with the goal of supporting the transformation and interoperability of these capabilities. In addition to this meeting, the Centre also created the Integrated Air and Missile Defence Lessons Learned Community of Interest with the support of the Joint Analysis and Lessons Learned Centre. In doing so, the Centre is making tangible steps towards achieving its goal of becoming the hub for the development of Lessons Learned in this area to better support NATO Operations.
The Centre has also strengthened its relationship with academia through agreements with the Technical University of Crete and the Institute of Computer Science – Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas. This cooperation with academia has resulted in tangible products of benefit for the Alliance, such as a report on hypersonic weapons being released to NATO stakeholders in 2022. Another report, about the detection and tracking of hypersonic weapons, was published in March 2023 in cooperation with the Technical University of Crete. Both deliverables will assist NATO to accelerate responsible innovation and the rapid adoption of data and modern technologies, in order to strengthen the Alliance’s edge and improve its ability to understand better, decide faster, and act stronger together.
In addition to its outreach activities in support of NATO’s development and exploitation of Integrated Air and Missile Defence capabilities, the Centre is delivering education and training programs, with the first Surface Based Air and Missile Defence Common Education and Training Program taking place in May. This course successfully educated and trained 21 tactical-level operators from 11 Allied countries in NATO tactics, techniques, and procedures regarding the execution of Surface Based Air and Missile Defence operations. In doing so, it contributed to the development of interoperability and common understanding between NATO forces in this area. The Centre is also driving doctrine development within NATO on the subject of Counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems Doctrine, taking the lead in writing the operational guidance that will be used to inform the strategic and tactical guidance in follow-on publications.
NATO-accredited Centres of Excellence are (multi-) nationally established and sponsored entities, which offer recognized expertise and experience within a defined subject matter area to the benefit of the Alliance. Centres of Excellence are not part of the NATO Command Structure, but form part of the wider framework that contributes to the functioning of the Alliance. Headquarters Supreme Allied Commander Transformation coordinates the activities of the Centres of Excellence, ensuring that their outputs align with Allied Command Transformation’s Programme of Work. For more information about NATO-accredited Centres of Excellence, see the 2023 Centres of Excellence Catalogue.