STAVANGER, NORWAY. The Joint Warfare Centre, one of three subordinate commands under NATO Allied Command Transformation, concluded exercise STEADFAST JUPITER 2023 on October 19th, 2023.
The computer-assisted command post exercise was scheduled by NATO’s Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe and directed by the Joint Warfare Centre. STEADFAST JUPITER 2023 was designed to strengthen low- and high-intensity warfighting skillsets of the NATO Command and Force Structure Headquarters, using a multi-domain, joint operational area scenario – a significant increase in the level of ambition, scale and complexity.
STEADFAST JUPITER 2023 was the largest and most complex computer assisted exercise in NATO in recent history and proved to be a unique opportunity. NATO’s responsiveness, command and control, and defence posture were tested in a highly challenging multi-threat environment, based on a simulated Article 5 scenario. The long-planned defensive exercise was designed to train and evaluate 24 training audiences, including SHAPE, Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum as the primary training audience, Allied Joint Force Command Naples, Allied Air Command, Allied Land Command and Allied Maritime Command and Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO, as well as the NATO Response Force 2024 headquarters and commands under the lead of Joint Force Command Brunssum. These training audiences were located at 27 different locations in Europe and the North America.
Colonel John Atkins, the Joint Warfare Centre’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Exercises, Training and Innovation and Director of the 1,000-strong Exercise Control organization, said: “I am very proud of the entire Joint Warfare Centre and wider Exercise Planning team which has made this exercise possible. Cooperation has been excellent throughout. The exercise has also been an ideal learning opportunity for the integration of capabilities across all domains.”
Colonel Joern Jakschik, Joint Force Command Brunssum Trusted Agent for STEADFAST JUPITER 2023, expanded on the significance of this historic training event by sharing that “it was a great learning opportunity for Joint Force Command Brunssum as NATO’s Operational Headquarters in Central Europe and the Priority One Training Audience to train and be integrated into a multi-domain environment. With the integration of strategic, operational and tactical echelons we tested our processes to a realistic extent never before conducted. Additionally, STEADFAST JUPITER 2023 helps all of us and the wider NATO community to orientate and focus our thinking on our main effort which is to be prepared in the best possible way for the warfighting task should deterrence fail.”
Twenty-seven NATO and partner nations, as well as a large number of NATO commands and entities, including eight NATO Centres of Excellence and seven international/non-governmental organizations, participated in the Joint Warfare Centre-directed exercise control group during STEADFAST JUPITER 2023. Additionally, the Nordic Centre for Gender in Military Operations in Sweden also participated in the Exercise Control.
STEADFAST JUPITER 2023 was a milestone in operationalizing the Concept for the Deterrence and Defence of the Euro-Atlantic Area: a strategy for the short to medium term that enables Allies to rapidly strengthen NATO’s deterrence and defence posture in all domains. All told, approximately 7,000 civilian and military personnel supported the tactical-level Computer Assisted Exercise/Command Post Exercise.
For the most up-to-date information on Exercise STEADFAST JUPITER 2023, follow the NATO Joint Warfare Centre on their Facebook and X channels.
