The "Trident Javelin 2017" tutorial, involving NATO commands in Europe, has come alive with the aim of testing and improving its command and control components in the event of defensive operations being activated.
The exercise, which concerns only command posts, will continue until November 17 with the simulation of a joint operation in response to an aggression against an Alliance member country.
Due to its characteristics, the exercise does not envisage "the deployment of troops on the ground", and takes place in a context of operations envisaged by Article 5 of the 1949 NATO Treaty (collective defense of the territories and populations of the member states). The most challenging security challenges the Alliance may face, including cyber and hybrid / terrorist threats, will be simulated.
The exercise will involve all three levels of the NATO military structure: the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Belgium at the strategic level, the Joint Force Comand (JFC) of Brunssum in the Netherlands, commanded by the Italian General Salvatore Farina, to operational level and other offices at the tactical level, such as:
- NATO Land Command (LANDCOM) - Command of the land components, based in Izmir, Turkey, which is deployed in Stavanger in Norway;
- NATO Maritime Command (MARCOM) - Command of the Maritime Forces, in Northwood, United Kingdom;
- NATO Air Command (AIRCOM) - Air Force Command, based in Ramstein in Germany;
- NATO Special Operations Headquarters (NSHQ) - Special Forces Command based in Mons in Belgium.
All staff members of the Alliance are involved in the exercise. Particularly for Italy there are "Command Responce Cell" of Solbiate Olona's NATO Rapid Deployable Corp. (NRDC), elements of the CIMIC Group of Motta di Livenza and of the 28 ^ Regiment Pavia in Pesaro.
An important role is played by the Joint Warfare Center (JWC) of Stavanger, Norway, which devised the fictional scenario of the exercise, called “Skolkan 3”, which includes a military campaign to restore the territorial integrity of an Allied country.
The Command responsible for carrying out the exercise is the JFC of Brunssum, which in addition to having the task of the overall management of the activity, will have to achieve the political - strategic objectives, synchronizing the efforts of all subordinate components.
It will also intensify interaction with host nations, Norway and the Baltic countries, and international, governmental and non-governmental organizations, to train as realistically as possible in order to support NATO's fundamental task of collective defense.
The "Trident Javelin", after the series of "Brilliant" exercises, concludes the certification process for the command and control elements of the NATO's "Rapid Response Force" (NRF), which in 2018 will see the responsibility of the phase stand-by, from the JFC command to Naples to Brunssum.
