The Cold Weather Operations Centre of Excellence is a cornerstone of the Alliance’s continued warfighting readiness efforts, integrating the Centre’s expertise with Allied and Partner Nations to continually improve doctrine and foster engagement among Allies to improve overall cold weather operational capacities.
The Cold Weather Operations Centre of Excellence is located in Elverum, Norway, and is the primary site of the Alliance’s cold weather operations development. Led by experienced Norwegian operators and cold-weather experts, the Centre is a vital aspect of the Alliance’s mission to ensure readiness in all environments and operates across the four pillars of NATO’s Centre of Excellence programme. The Centre leverages the Norwegian military’s collective expertise, along with those of Allied Nations with similar cold weather operational experience, to shape existing and future cold-weather operations. Further, in order to explore new cold weather operational doctrine, the Centre is at the forefront of testing and validation of ideas, equipment and concepts through hands-on experimentation. These functions will assist the Alliance and its Partners in maintaining readiness for cold-weather operations and continuing to push forward innovation as the Alliance’s northern flank becomes increasingly important in the strategic geopolitical context.
The Centre’s active development and experimentation is cutting-edge and innovative, collaborating with Allied nations to push forward the Alliance’s warfighting capability in extreme cold weather conditions. These efforts account for every contingency, from analysing low-level capabilities such as effectiveness of camp stoves and carbohydrate/protein supplementation to wide-scale, overarching issues like the effects of winter military training and psychological parameters of military ski-marches. Furthermore, the Centre actively encourages the development of multi-domain operational capacity by preparing Alliance forces for combined cold-weather operations on land, in air, and on sea. The Centre’s efforts in these fields have led to the refinement and/or total transformation of the Alliance’s existing equipment and training for maintaining warfighting capabilities in cold-weather environments.
Building on these important findings, the Centre also assists with Allied Command Transformation’s efforts to integrate analysis and lessons learned into the development of improved doctrine and standards. Although the Centre’s physical environment is akin to Arctic conditions, subject matter experts also account for the cold weather nuances of other locations throughout the Alliance’s area of operations to better prepare force readiness. The Centre explores current practices and suggests improvements based on real-world experience, folding the lessons of the Centre’s experimentation into broader doctrine. These interconnected lines of effort enable the Centre to make informed decision making when advising Allied and Partner forces on cold weather operations.
The Centre’s position as a leading educational and training location on cold weather operations has enabled its doctrine to become a handrail for planning and conduct of cold weather operations. The Centre hosts a plethora of courses for associated stakeholders, with 2023 seminars featuring Winter Courses for NATO Staff Officers, Winter Training for Medics, and Avalanche Rescue Courses. Furthermore, through an agreement with a military academy in Ukraine, the Centre has established direct Cold Weather support for Ukrainian partners in their country’s ongoing conflict with Russia. In this capacity, the Centre has conducted courses for Ukrainian Defence Forces, translated relevant handbooks and worked to facilitate Cold Weather Lessons Learned doctrine.
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.
