The Counter-Improvised Explosive Devices Centre of Excellence serves as an important educational and doctrinal development institution for the Alliance, working to protect the security of Allied and Partner states domestically and abroad through anticipatory technological and tactical development, active improvised explosive device neutralization and training of stakeholders across the Alliance ecosystem.
The Counter-Improvised Explosive Devices Centre of Excellence is located in Madrid, Spain, and received its official accreditation in 2010. The Centre is focused on providing subject matter expertise that significantly reduces or eliminates the threats to Allied Nations posed by the use of improvised explosive devices. The training and doctrine presented by the Centre aims to reduce risks to both Alliance troops deployed in theatres of operations and the domestic safety of Allied Nations, its Partners and the International Community as a whole. These initiatives assist in countering improvised explosive devices from all groups, including non-state actors, terrorists and insurgent networks. The Centre staffs more than 40 subject matter experts in the field of counter-improvised explosive devices and is organized into three missions: Attack the Networks, Defeat the Device and Prepare the Force. Altogether, the Centre works to foster cooperation across the Alliance on countering improvised explosive devices, integrating the experiences of Allied Nations to continue to protect Alliance interests, personnel and security at home and abroad.
The Centre’s first pillar, Attack the Networks, emphasizes the importance of constant development of anticipatory technology, analysis and doctrine as well as a forward understanding of the complex nature of improvised explosive device threats. This branch of the Centre is staffed by personnel from military, law enforcement and intelligence backgrounds, who have hands-on experience understanding the threats posed by improvised explosive devices. The Attack the Networks portion of the Centre’s mission also emphasizes the need for comprehensive information sharing on Prevention and Prediction protocols among Allied Nations’ counter-improvised explosive devices actors.
The Centre’s second pillar, Defeat the Device, understands that despite all anticipatory actions, adversarial groups will continue to attempt improvised explosive device-based attacks on Allied Nations and personnel. As such, the Centre’s Defeat the Device pillar focuses on assessing and comparing common operational technologies and doctrines across Allied Nations to identify capability gaps and future requirements. This pillar leverages the Centre’s expertise for three main lines of effort: Detection, Neutralization, and Mitigation. Together, these initiatives provide Alliance personnel with the experience and technical know-how to defeat threats from improvised explosive devices in real world scenarios.
Combining the findings, experiences and doctrine developed in the above-mentioned pillars, the Centre’s final pillar, Prepare the Force, represents an important training and education function for Alliance stakeholders. A key output of this pillar is the Centre’s numerous training courses, including the Counter-Improvised Explosive Devices Training Model, which provides a standardized manual for allied and partner nations to guide the education of forces. The Centre also provides on-site courses for Alliance stakeholders, integrating lessons learned with emerging capabilities to maintain readiness for Alliance counter-improvised explosive device experts.
The Centre’s capstone training event, the Alternate Threat Scenarios Seminar 2023, will occur from 05-07 September. This event will seek to combine allied and partner nation expertise of authorities in the fields of analysis, anticipation, prevention, response and preparation. These experts will be encouraged to think outside the box, with the seminar providing a space to present alternate models for threat scenarios, including those challenges from emerging, unprecedented, unexpected or modified state and non-state actors. This seminar exemplifies the Centre’s efforts to continue to combine analysis and lessons learned with concept development strategies in a training setting, thus advancing the Allied Command Transformation’s mission of fostering innovation among the Alliance’s forces.
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.
