Allied Rapid Reaction Corps
161207-GBRA-8711O-027
ARRCADE NELSON LOOKS AT HQ ARRC’S CORPS PRESENT, FUTURE
IMJIN BARRACKS, UK – As they approach the year’s end, the servicemen and women of Headquarters Allied Rapid Reaction Corps have been certified for their role in the NATO Response Force and are looking to take their place as the Land Component Command in 2017. While HQ ARRC, which represents 21 NATO nations, is preparing for the new year, they are also looking to what could possibly lie ahead in 2017 and beyond.
In order to do so, HQ ARRC held Exercise ARRCADE NELSON here, an exercise designed to focus leaders on their role today, tomorrow and beyond. In order to get a full-spectrum view, speakers from the US and UK militaries, academics and the UK Army Chief of the General Staff General Sir Nicholas Carter, about where we are now, and where to go from here.
“The battlefield now is increasingly decentralized,” said Carter. “Our training definitely needs to prepare people to be able to fight war rather than ‘a war’ and I think we need to think hard, given the nature of the modern environment how we genuinely develop the leaders at the levels below who are going to have to innovate in tactical terms in what is a much more complex environment than I grew up in.”
Taking the need to be forward-thinking and innovative seriously, HQ ARRC invited August Cole, non-resident senior fellow, Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security at the Atlantic Council and co-author of the novel Ghost Fleet to speak during the exercise. The novel, which looks at the future of warfare and how future wars might be fought, and gives Cole a unique perspective that he shared with the attendees.
He walked the audience through a possible future scenario to think through what a future war might look like for HQ ARRC and NATO, encouraged them to think and plan further out than is comfortable, and to make sure some thought is given to unthinkable scenarios in the future.
Just as the cooperation between nations is important today, it will remain so in the future as and HQ ARRC will continue to develop the interoperability between their 21 nations as they serve in the NRF.
“As NATO, our centre of gravity is alliance cohesion and through interoperability we demonstrate the practical output of that cohesion,” said Clark. This headquarters, HQ ARRC, is absolutely vital in this sense.”
“Ultimately the most important part of interoperability is about human relationships that’s why events like this are so important,” he continued. It’s why developing that mutual understanding between nations and partners is absolutely fundamental.”
As one on NATO’s nine High Readiness Forces Land, HQ ARRC is designed to serve several different purposes when needed. While their role next year is as the Land Component Command for the NATO Response Force, they also have to remain prepared to operate as a corps headquarters and combined joint headquarters, a point that was reiterated by Carter.
“I think the corps level of command is increasingly becoming more relevant I suspect this headquarters is optimizing itself at corps-level operations but being able to adjust from that to a land component headquarters if necessary,” said Carter.
While HQ ARRC remains ready for the NRF mission next year, exercises like NELSON ensure that they continue to innovate and increase their ability to adapt to any role, or any mission given to them by NATO.
“As the nature of warfare shifts over time, so must we,” said Lieutenant General Tim Radford, commander of HQ ARRC. “This study day seeks to bring the latest issues and thinking together and set the stage for our training year in 2017 as we look to ‘recalibrate’ to focusing on corps-level operations.”
“Much can be taken from history but in order to succeed and to stay ahead, we need to look hard at what the future might bring and what we might do,” he continued. “Today has done exactly that and we have benefitted enormously from the distinguished speakers who have brought their expertise, thoughts and candour to the day.“
Please credit photographer.
161207-GBRA-8711O-027
ARRCADE NELSON LOOKS AT HQ ARRC’S CORPS PRESENT, FUTURE
IMJIN BARRACKS, UK – As they approach the year’s end, the servicemen and women of Headquarters Allied Rapid Reaction Corps have been certified for their role in the NATO Response Force and are looking to take their place as the Land Component Command in 2017. While HQ ARRC, which represents 21 NATO nations, is preparing for the new year, they are also looking to what could possibly lie ahead in 2017 and beyond.
In order to do so, HQ ARRC held Exercise ARRCADE NELSON here, an exercise designed to focus leaders on their role today, tomorrow and beyond. In order to get a full-spectrum view, speakers from the US and UK militaries, academics and the UK Army Chief of the General Staff General Sir Nicholas Carter, about where we are now, and where to go from here.
“The battlefield now is increasingly decentralized,” said Carter. “Our training definitely needs to prepare people to be able to fight war rather than ‘a war’ and I think we need to think hard, given the nature of the modern environment how we genuinely develop the leaders at the levels below who are going to have to innovate in tactical terms in what is a much more complex environment than I grew up in.”
Taking the need to be forward-thinking and innovative seriously, HQ ARRC invited August Cole, non-resident senior fellow, Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security at the Atlantic Council and co-author of the novel Ghost Fleet to speak during the exercise. The novel, which looks at the future of warfare and how future wars might be fought, and gives Cole a unique perspective that he shared with the attendees.
He walked the audience through a possible future scenario to think through what a future war might look like for HQ ARRC and NATO, encouraged them to think and plan further out than is comfortable, and to make sure some thought is given to unthinkable scenarios in the future.
Just as the cooperation between nations is important today, it will remain so in the future as and HQ ARRC will continue to develop the interoperability between their 21 nations as they serve in the NRF.
“As NATO, our centre of gravity is alliance cohesion and through interoperability we demonstrate the practical output of that cohesion,” said Clark. This headquarters, HQ ARRC, is absolutely vital in this sense.”
“Ultimately the most important part of interoperability is about human relationships that’s why events like this are so important,” he continued. It’s why developing that mutual understanding between nations and partners is absolutely fundamental.”
As one on NATO’s nine High Readiness Forces Land, HQ ARRC is designed to serve several different purposes when needed. While their role next year is as the Land Component Command for the NATO Response Force, they also have to remain prepared to operate as a corps headquarters and combined joint headquarters, a point that was reiterated by Carter.
“I think the corps level of command is increasingly becoming more relevant I suspect this headquarters is optimizing itself at corps-level operations but being able to adjust from that to a land component headquarters if necessary,” said Carter.
While HQ ARRC remains ready for the NRF mission next year, exercises like NELSON ensure that they continue to innovate and increase their ability to adapt to any role, or any mission given to them by NATO.
“As the nature of warfare shifts over time, so must we,” said Lieutenant General Tim Radford, commander of HQ ARRC. “This study day seeks to bring the latest issues and thinking together and set the stage for our training year in 2017 as we look to ‘recalibrate’ to focusing on corps-level operations.”
“Much can be taken from history but in order to succeed and to stay ahead, we need to look hard at what the future might bring and what we might do,” he continued. “Today has done exactly that and we have benefitted enormously from the distinguished speakers who have brought their expertise, thoughts and candour to the day.“
Please credit photographer.