NATO deploys DACCC elements to enhance air integration in the Baltic States and Poland

LIELVARDE, Latvia – Elements of NATO’s Deployable Air Command and Control Centre (DACCC) will deploy more than 2000 kilometres from Italy to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland for Exercise RAMSTEIN DUST-II 17 (RADT-II 17) this September.

During RADT-II 17 the Deployable Air Control Centre, Recognized Air Picture Production Centre and Sensor Fusion Post (DARS) will move by road and air to Lielvarde Air Base, Latvia, for a deployment and readiness exercise in order to train procedures and arrangements for setting up its remote control units. The DARS will operate under the tactical command of CAOC Uedem in Germany, which routinely manages the NATO Air Policing mission over Northern Europe. The DARS has the ability to control air missions, carry out air traffic management, deliver area air surveillance to produce a recognized air picture and integrate surface based air defence systems.

The DARS contribution will be enhanced by the addition of an Italian Air Force TPS-77 deployable radar unit, which will also deploy to Latvia to act as a sensor in support of the DARS and to contribute to the Baltic recognized air picture. Four additional teams from the DACCC will deploy to the region as Air Integration Elements and training teams. These specialist teams will provide: air command and control training at Control & Reporting Centre Karmelava and with the Polish Air Operations Centre at Warsaw; and air-land integration training and liaison with the Baltic enhanced Force Presence (eFP) Battlegroups and with the Polish Battlegroup.

Finally, the Commander of NATO’s DACCC, Major General André Kraak, will represent Allied Air Command in a series of high-level engagements with National and Alliance military leaders in all four nations. This engagement will seek to highlight further improvements in Air-Land integration and opportunities to identify and develop future NATO air engagement within the eFP framework.

Since the DACCC was established in Italy in 2014, the RADT exercise series has been conducted twice a year. The second event this year provides a platform to hone the ability of Allied forces to cooperate and integrate systems to enable NATO’s deployable air surveillance and control capability. Routine in nature, RADT-II 17 is one of several Allied Air exercises that continue to demonstrate NATO’s continued adaptation to new security challenges.

The DACCC, stationed at Poggio Renatico, Italy, provides Allied Air Command’s deployable air surveillance and control capability, providing NATO a key enabler for expeditionary operations.

NATO is enhancing its forward presence in the north-eastern part of the Alliance, with four multinational Battlegroups in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, on a rotational basis. Fully operational since the end of June 2017, these are robust, multinational and combat-ready, demonstrating the strength of the Alliance’s commitment to collective defence.

Story by Allied Air Command Public Affairs Office based on information provided by the Deployable Air Command and Control Centre