NATO

The NATO Warfighting Capstone Concept looks to answer one main question: where will NATO be in 2040? Allied Command Transformation is leading the development of the NATO Warfighting Capstone Concept, a military concept based on a 20-year warfighting perspective, shaping NATO’s Warfare Development trajectory and informing the development of the Alliance’s Military Instrument of Power while also ensuring its effectiveness and employability.

The NATO Warfighting Capstone Concept, along with Allied Command Transformation’s Concept for the Deterrence and Defence of the Euro-Atlantic Area, operationalises NATO’s 2019 Military Strategy—the first document of its kind in over 50 years.

While the Concept for the Deterrence and Defence of the Euro-Atlantic Area considers the immediate to short-term, the NATO Warfighting Capstone Concept proposes an ambitious “North Star” vision for the Alliance’s Warfare Development, aiming to ensure NATO’s military is ready to address future challenges and that the Alliance maintains its warfighting advantage to 2040. This vision aspires to be a military instrument of power which can out-think, out-excel, out-fight, out-pace, out-partner, and out-last any adversary.

The NATO Warfighting Capstone Concept aims to address an important concern: if NATO does not think, organise and act differently than it does today, the Military Instrument of Power will face an eroding advantage. The future success of the Alliance depends on the ability to continually transform to meet tomorrow’s challenges and a steady “North Star” path ensures warfare development will be deliberate, proactive and effective.

Reconsidering the way NATO thinks, organises and acts in order to make best use of resources in its warfare development will allow the Alliance to prepare for a more unpredictable world and respond to the consequences of a changed security environment, enabling NATO’s core mission of defending almost 1 billion people.

The result of over 18 months of concerted effort by NATO’s Allied Command Transformation and wide consultation and collaboration with NATO and outside experts, the NATO Warfighting Capstone Concept is positioned for approval by NATO Nations in 2021.

There were four syndicate topics, each led by an Allied Command Transformation's Flag Officer / General Officer with support from Nations, Industry, Academia and others, where attending Chiefs of Transformation Conference Principals shared best practices, views and opinions with the aim to identify follow on activities in specific areas of interest. Over the two-day conference, all attendees discussed each of the four topics.

View the consolidated Chiefs of Transformation Conference Report here.

Chiefs of Transformation Conference 2019 topics:

• "Innovation" led by Lieutenant General Thomas Sharpy
  • Allied Command Transformation and a number of Nations are increasingly focusing on innovation. We need to identify what is the success strategy to foster innovation because technology is already here. Understanding how to build, fuel and drive innovation is the first step to bring all nations on board at the same speed. The NATO Innovation Network offers to nations the opportunity to share ideas, best practices, and combine efforts to tackle the future challenges together.
    
    View the Innovation Syndicate Report here

• "Interoperability" led by Brigadier General Poul Primdahl
  • Interoperability is a mind-set that demands a shift in culture. We must not see interoperable capabilities as an afterthought, but think about "interoperability by design" at the very beginning of the capability development process.
    
    View the Interoperability Syndicate Report here

• "Resilience" led by Rear Admiral John Tammen
  • NATO leveraging Collaborative Resilience to conduct and sustain operations by preparing for, absorbing, recovering and adapting to the surprise or strategic shock of Hybrid Attack and/or Terror through harmonized and resilient structures, systems and processes enabled by the persistent collaboration across public, military and private stakeholders.
    
    View the Resilience Syndicate Report here

• "Human Capital" led by Vice Admiral Alfonso Fernandez De Cordoba
  • As the security landscape grows in complexity, it has never been as important for leadership to adapt their approach to decision making. Developing and enabling our Human Capital to leverage technological advances and innovative approaches to decision making is paramount.
    
    View the Human Capital Syndicate Report here

• Command Senior Enlisted Leaders Program led by Sergeant Major Tibor Bogdán
  • NATO Nations’ Chiefs of Defence/Armed Forces level Command Senior Enlisted Leaders/Command Sergeant Majors participated in the 2019 Chiefs of Transformation Conference. The Command Senior Enlisted Leaders program was a new initiation and a disruptive way to deliver Allied Command Transformation’s message and achieve sweeping changes to the perception of the challenges of the Alliance.
    
    View the Command Senior Enlisted Leaders Program Report here

• Young Disruptor Contributions
  • Additionally, “young disruptors” were invited to participate and were integrated into each of the syndicate session to share their vision and recognise best practices to identify possible common/shared efforts and to establish a robust network for cooperation in the area of innovation.
    
    View the Young Disruptors Report here