NATO Response Force

The purpose of the NRF is to provide a quick reaction force of high quality to support NATO missions as required. The concept of NRF was first endorsed with a declaration of NATO's Heads of State at the Prague Summit on 22 November 2002. It was then approved by NATO Defence Ministers in June 2003, and the first headquarters created in October 2003 in Italy under command of NATO Joint Force Command in Brunssum, Netherlands, designated NRF 1. Its rotation replacement was designated NRF 2 (2004) at the same time.[2]

Rotating forces through the NRF requires nations to meet the demanding standards needed for collective defence and expeditionary operations. As the standards are very high, participation in the NRF is preceded by a six-month NATO exercise program in order to integrate and standardize the various national contingents. Generally, nations carry out a pre-training period in preparation for the NATO exercises of between 6–18 months. Once activated Reconnaissance Teams deploy within 5 days. This is the first of a number of deployment phases that lead to the deployment of the entire HQ Joint Task Force and Immediate Reaction Forces within 30 days.

The NRF is certified by NATO to perform a wide variety of tasks including: providing an immediate response capability for conducting collective defence of Alliance members in the event of an Article V operation;

• crisis management operations;
• acting as the initial force deployment as a precursor to deployment of a much larger force;
• peace support operations;
• disaster relief;
• protection of critical infrastructure.

The NRF structure consists of four parts:

Command and Control element: based on a deployable Joint Task Force HQ

Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF)

Initial Follow On Forces Group: These are high-readiness forces that can deploy quickly following the VJTF, in response to a crisis

Response Forces Pool: NATO retains a broad spectrum of military capabilities encompassing command and control, combat and support units through the Responses Forces Pool (RFP). The forces are drawn from the much wider pool of Allied or Partners National deployable forces.

During the 2014 Wales summit NATO leaders agreed to establish a Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF). The VJTF will be a high-readiness "Spearhead Force" able to deploy at short notice to threats against NATO sovereignty. It will consist of a land brigade numbering around 5,000 troops, supported by air, sea and special forces. The VJTF would be supported by two more land brigades as a "rapid reinforcement capability" in case of a major crisis. Altogether, the enhanced NATO Response Force will amount to around 30,000 troops.[3]

The meeting followed the Crimean crisis and the Russian assertive policy of annexation of a sovereign state that didn't meet a substantial reaction.[4] The need of a VJTF was reaffirmed within the Wales Summit Declaration of 2016.[4]

As of January 2015, units assigned to the NRF have been used on four occasions:

• Olympic Games in Athens in 2004;
• Afghan presidential elections in 2004;
• Humanitarian assistance following Hurricane Katrina in 2005;
• Humanitarian relief following the earthquake in Pakistan in 2006.

Of NATO's non-member partners, Finland and Sweden joined the Response Force in 2008[5] and 2013,[6] respectively. Ukraine and Georgia began contributions, respectively, in 2014[7] and 2015.[8]

• Combined Joint Expeditionary Force (CJEF)
• UK Joint Expeditionary Force
• Eurocorps
• Franco-German Brigade

• Official Article on NATO Response Force
• critical NATO Review article
• Ukraine's MFA article
• NRF Factsheet
• The NATO Response Force – Facilitating coalition warfare through technology transfer and information sharing