RAMSTEIN, Germany – Allied Nations participate in NATO’s first major joint exercise for the multi-domain Allied Reaction Force (ARF), exercise Steadfast Deterrence 2024, from May 21 – 30, 2024.
Participants from NATO’s 32 Allies took part in the exercise showing NATO cohesion and sharing best practice - in real time, NATO conducts a plethora of vigilance and deterrence activities
Sponsored by Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) and directed by the Joint Warfare Centre (JWC), Steadfast Deterrence 2024 is a non-Article 5 major joint exercise, designed to train and certify NATO Rapid Deployable Corps Italy as the first Allied ARF Headquarters, which will be effective from July 2024.
The exercise will test NATO’s responsiveness, deterrence posture, and adaptation of command and control capabilities in a highly complex multi-threat environment and provides a unique opportunity to explore the ARF concept for the first time.
For the first time, Allied specialists trained tactics, techniques and procedures for NATO's Allied Reaction Force ARF; exercise Steadfast Defender was designed to certify the NATO Rapid Deployable Corps Italy as the first ARF HQ. NATO is constantly conducting vigilance and deterrence activities which deliver valuable input for implementing the ARF concept. Photos from left to right: 1 by Tore Ellingsen, 2 courtesy Rapid Deployable Corps Italy and 3 and 4 archive photos.
“NATO AIRCOM has been working alongside other NATO commands across Europe and the Atlantic area of responsibility to practice simulated deterrence activities,” said Brigadier General David Morpurgo, Joint Force Air Component Director. “Participants from NATO’s 32 Allies took part in the exercise showing NATO cohesion and sharing best practice. In real time, NATO conducts a plethora of vigilance and deterrence activities 24/7/365 to keep all Allies safe”, he added.
From several locations, over 100 Allied Air Command personnel participated in the exercise, which is based on the simulated but highly realistic new “360-degree Multi-Domain Setting”. This operationalizes NATO’s Deterrence and Defence of the Euro-Atlantic Area (DDA) concept and reinforces the new regional deterrence and defence plans in all domains.
The establishment of the multinational and multi-domain ARF is a result of the decisions taken at the 2023 Vilnius Summit. ARF is a crucial component of the new NATO Force Model, which provides a larger pool of high-readiness forces across the five domains of land, sea, air, cyberspace and space.
ARF will replace the NATO Response Force towards the end of 2024, being vastly larger in scale, scope, and operational readiness for the defence of the Alliance, ensuring that NATO is ready to respond to any threat to security.