BY LESSONS LEARNED BRANCH, JOINT FORCE DEVELOPMENT
On 20 September 2022, the Joint Analysis and Lessons Learned Centre (JALLC) celebrated its 20th Anniversary.
Established in 2002, the JALLC took over the role of the Permanent Maritime Analysis Team based in Northwood, UK. The JALLC was conceived to primarily analyse exercises, however changes to the NATO environment and growing NATO involvement in operations resulted in the JALLC’s activities shifting to analysis of operations and major NATO Response Force exercises.
Today, the JALLC is NATO’s lead agent for Lessons Learned. Its mission is to support Alliance-wide implementation and sustainment of NATO’s Lessons Learned policy through monitoring and supervising the NATO Lessons Learned process within the NATO Command Structure and other NATO bodies.
The JALLC’s activities include: JALLC Analysis, which includes Joint Analysis, Short Term Analysis and NATO Lessons Learned Portal (NLLP) Content Analysis, management of the NATO Lessons Learned Portal, NATO Lessons Learned Capability Assessment and Training, and Lessons Learned Support to Operations and Exercises. You can read more about JALLC activities here.
In recent months, the JALLC began its work on analysing the initial observations from NATO’s response to the situation in and around Ukraine. The work on this project will continue in 2022 with further analysis, which will be presented in a JALLC report to be produced later this year.
In March 2022, the JALLC published a report on the NATO Standing Naval Forces (SNF). This report was intended to better understand the identified shortfalls in force generation SNF as well as capture insights from the Nations as to what a future SNF should look like.
The Resolute Support Mission (RSM) was launched in 2015 with the intention of reaffirming NATO’s crucial role in training, advising, and assisting the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces (ANDSF). At the request of SHAPE, the JALLC was tasked to produce an evidence-based report identifying the key strategic and operational lessons from NATO’s experience in training, advising, and assisting the Afghan security forces and institutions. The purpose of the report, which was published in March 2022, was to support the NATO strategic and operational level military HQs to learn from NATO’s recent military experience in Afghanistan. The Project Team identified 12 lessons on topics such as Strategic Communications and the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on RSM efforts and activities. The associated recommendations, together with the lessons identified will go on to support, not only future missions, but NATO’s ongoing transformation.
Over the last 20 years, the JALLC has had a total of nine directors and commanders from five different Nations. The current JALLC Commander, Commodore Fernando Artilheiro (Portuguese Navy), was appointed in June this year. To read more about the Commander, click here.
The JALLC is manned by a peacetime establishment of 50 staff, hailing from 16 different Nations and is made up of both military and civilian staff members ensuring the JALLC’s work represents the different perspectives, experience, and backgrounds in NATO.