NATO’s 2024 Washington Summit, celebrating 75 years of the Alliance, saw member states reaffirm their commitment to collective defence in a complex and evolving security environment. This article explores several key areas of the Washington Summit Declaration and explores how Allied Command Transformation, NATO’s strategic warfare development command, is instrumental in putting these plans into action.
High-Intensity, Multi-Domain Defence
The Summit Declaration emphasized the need for “the necessary forces, capabilities, resources and infrastructure for our new defence plans, to be prepared for high-intensity and multi-domain collective defence.” Allied Command Transformation plays a crucial role in achieving this goal. The Command spearheaded the development of the Multi-Domain Operations concept, a revolutionary approach that empowers the Alliance to seamlessly integrate land, air, maritime, cyber, and space domains. Meanwhile exercises like Coalition Warrior Interoperability Exercise (CWIX), coordinated by Allied Command Transformation, hosts thousands of on-site participants who test and refine hundreds of capabilities against interoperability standards, a vital aspect of executing Multi-Domain Operations effectively. Through other experimentation exercises and concept development like the Cognitive Warfare Concept and iO360 – the command is testing and putting interoperability into practice, thereby preparing the Alliance to execute Multi-Domain Operations.
Modernization and Transformation
The Declaration called for the “modernization of NATO for a new era of collective defence” and ensuring “high readiness forces across all domains.” As the name suggests, Allied Command Transformation embodies this spirit of constant evolution. Serving as NATO’s strategic warfare development command, our core mission is to improve the Alliance’s military structures, forces, and doctrines through continuous adaptation. From its inception, the command has recognized the importance of transformation to ensure NATO remains relevant in a swiftly changing global security landscape.
“How do we keep the edge – we need to produce more, not only capabilities, but more training and interoperability, and the way we are going to do that is through multi-domain operations alliance enabled by this necessary digital transformation.”
General Philippe Lavigne, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation,
at the NATO Public Forum 2024
Embracing Innovation and Technology
Leaders at the summit declared the need to “take urgent action to increase capabilities in accordance with the NATO Defence Planning Process,” with a focus on “accelerating transformation and the integration of new technologies and innovation.” Allied Command Transformation is at the forefront of this digital transformation journey. Command personnel are spearheading initiatives to equip NATO with a digital-ready workforce, advanced technologies, and streamlined processes. This ensures interoperability, heightened situational awareness, and data-driven decision-making in the face of future military challenges.
By 2030, NATO’s Digital Transformation will facilitate Multi-Domain Operations, ensuring interoperability, heightened situational awareness, and data-driven decision-making. In this transformative journey, NATO Allied Command Transformation plays a key role in NATO’s Digital Transformation as the primary lead and support provider to a total of 36 out of 54 Lines of Effort in the NATO Digital Transformation Implementation Strategy.
Space: The New Frontier
The Declaration also acknowledged the growing significance of space by calling for the “acceleration of the integration of space into our planning, exercises, and multi-domain operations.” Allied Command Transformation is actively involved in this domain through participation in space conferences, establishing a Space Branch within the command, and fostering fruitful and robust connections within the space industry. These efforts enhance NATO’s space domain awareness, a critical asset in a contested environment. Hosting the first ever NATO Space Symposium earlier this year, Allied Command Transformation brought together key decision-makers, space experts and industry leaders from across NATO commands, NATO nations, industry and academia. The command aims to accelerate the integration of space capabilities into NATO’s planning and operations, and to leverage the rapidly evolving space sector for the benefit of collective defence.
Strengthening Industrial Cooperation
The Summit Declaration went on to stress the critical role of “Transatlantic defence industrial cooperation” and endorsed the “NATO Industrial Capacity Expansion Pledge.” Allied Command Transformation facilitates this collaboration by coordinating important partnership opportunities like the annual NATO Industry Forum. This forum brings together over one thousand industry leaders, military officials, and decision-makers to foster open dialogue and encourage innovation in capability development. Through its collaborative relationships with industry and partners, the Alliance is able to improve its strength and efficiency. The NATO Industry Forum is where NATO’s political and military leaders engage top thinkers from industry on capabilities that contribute to deterrence and defence, crisis prevention and management and cooperative security.
“Take for example Space, we need the private sector in order to help us build either our space domain awareness, we need it for high connectivity, low latency for autonomous systems, for the new command and control we are going to deliver. How to do this? By opening our military exercises, training, experimentation and brainstorming to industry.”
General Philippe Lavigne, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation,
at the NATO Public Forum 2024
Resilience: A Cornerstone of Defence
The Summit Declaration emphasized the importance of “national and collective resilience” as a foundation for credible deterrence and defence. Allied Command Transformation leads the military adaptation of the Alliance by operationalizing the NATO Warfighting Capstone Concept, this includes the Layered Resilience Warfare Development Imperative. The command is currently working on the Layered Resilience Concept, the NATO Military Resilience Risk Assessment and Lines of Delivery for Resilience in Training and Exercises. The Layered Resilience Concept, currently under development by the command, focuses on building collective awareness, preparedness, and capacity across all hazards and domains, bolstering NATO’s ability to address emerging threats. The work on Layered Resilience will inform the NATO Defence Planning Process and is also a crucial component of a Multi-Domain Operations-enabled Alliance.
Supporting Ukraine
The Declaration also announced major initiatives in support of Ukraine. These included the establishment of the “NATO-Ukraine Joint Analysis, Training and Education Centre”, helping to identify and apply lessons from Russia’s war against Ukraine, and to increase Ukraine’s interoperability. Allied Command Transformation is well-equipped to continue supporting Ukraine in these areas of focus. The new training centre signifies a crucial step in practical cooperation between NATO and Ukraine in order to increase their readiness. Allied Command Transformation, with its Joint Analysis Lessons Learned Centre, has already provided significant assistance to Ukraine for the development of the Ukrainian National Lessons Learned Portal.
NATO’s strategic warfare development command will continue to help the Ukrainian Armed Forces to develop interoperability, military education and training, and more. This assistance has been amplified by Allied Command Transformation-hosted events such as the NATO-Industry Forum and the Partnership 360 Symposium. These events bring together strategic leaders and thinkers to share knowledge and best practices on the security issues that affect Allied and Partner nations alike. Other Allied Command Transformation-led events, including CWIX and TIDE Hackathon, have helped test and develop Ukraine’s warfighting capabilities. This includes the impressive DELTA capability – a military information system designed to improve situational awareness, planning and decision-making.
Partnerships for a Stable World
The Summit Declaration also reaffirmed the importance of NATO’s partnerships, underscoring the commitment to “strengthen political dialogue and practical cooperation.” Allied Command Transformation plays a vital role in fostering these partnerships. We are currently developing a long-term vision for future partnerships, ensuring these ventures remain effective in addressing evolving security challenges. The command also hosts events like the Partnerships 360 Symposium, a platform for international organizations, Partner Nations, and NATO members to collaborate on issues like warfare development, capacity building, and resilience.
Promoting Women, Peace and Security
The Washington Summit reaffirmed NATO’s “commitment to integrating its ambitious Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and Human Security agendas across all core tasks.” This commitment is particularly important at a time when international law and fundamental norms are under strain. The summit also saw the formal endorsement of a revised NATO Women, Peace and Security policy. This updated policy addresses emerging threats like technology-facilitated gender-based violence, the misuse of new technologies, conflict-related sexual violence and climate security. It also recognizes the specific dangers posed to women by the war in Ukraine.
Allied Command Transformation plays an important role in advancing the Women, Peace and Security agenda across the Alliance. By hosting an annual Gender Advisor Conference, the Command creates a forum for sharing information and fostering discussions on integrating gender perspectives into specific military operations and activities. These discussions connect Women, Peace and Security with other key areas of focus at Allied Command Transformation, such as Cognitive Warfare, the AzuritOwl Innovation project, Layered Resilience, Multi-Domain Operations in the Urban Environment, wargaming, lessons identified from the war in Ukraine, and the Warfare Development Agenda. By actively integrating gender perspectives into these critical areas, Allied Command Transformation ensures a more comprehensive and effective approach to global security challenges.
NATO’s 2024 Washington Summit painted a clear picture of the Alliance’s resolve to adapt and modernize in the face of a complex security environment. Allied Command Transformation, with its focus on innovation, collaboration and transformation, serves as the engine driving these crucial advancements, ensuring NATO remains a formidable force for peace and stability in the years to come.
