STAVANGER, Norway – NATO’s premier crisis prevention and management exercise STEADFAST DAGGER 2024 concluded at the Joint Warfare Centre (JWC) on December 5, 2024.
Scheduled by Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), coordinated by Allied Joint Force Command Naples (JFC Naples) and directed by the JWC, this computer-assisted command post exercise (CAX/CPX) was designed to increase operational readiness and interoperability of the Allied Reaction Force (ARF), following its activation in July.
Major General Ruprecht von Butler, Commander JWC and the Exercise Director, held an all-hands call on December 5. The Commander began his speech by saying two words to the STEADFAST DAGGER 2024 Exercise Control (EXCON) team; “Thank you,” the Commander said: “Thank you for your critically important work in making NATO better and contributing to the collective readiness of our great Alliance. This is a big responsibility, because it is our mission to make NATO perform as effective as possible on operations, be it for collective defence or outside NATO territory, and help deliver interoperability and warfare advantage for the Alliance.”
Major General von Butler added: “As the main provider of the largest command post exercises to NATO, there is nothing more important to the Joint Warfare Centre than to provide our forces with the best possible training there is. That’s why it is vital that you understand just how important you all are to our mission.”
STEADFAST DAGGER 2024 was designed to train the ARF25 in planning and executing non-Article 5 multi-domain operations outside NATO territory, “intervening against a terrorist threat that was enmeshed in a complex, political, economic, security and social environment,” as explained by the EXCON Senior Advisor.
Colonel Kevin Rafferty, the JWC’s Deputy Chief of Staff Exercises, Training and Innovation and the Chief of the EXCON, highlighted that STEADFAST DAGGER 2024 underscored the ARF’s capability of responding to crises worldwide, strengthening NATO’s 360-degree approach to deterrence and defence.
“This is the second time that the Allied Reaction Force has been put through its paces at the Joint Warfare Centre in 2024,” he said.
“As SACEUR’s strategic reserve, in May, the focus was on the defence and deterrence of the Euro-Atlantic Area. This time, on Exercise STEADFAST DAGGER 2024, the Allied Reaction Force exercised an non-Article 5 scenario, concentrating on NATO’s second and third core tasks; crisis prevention and management, and cooperative security. The ARF continues to build readiness, and has exercised with components who will come under its command in 2025.”
Colonel Rafferty added: “From a Chief EXCON perspective, I was particularly impressed with the Allied Reaction Force, who were immediately in their stride, even with the changeover of key staff. There was tangible progression throughout the exercise, as witnessed by the synchronization of joint actions at the Joint Task Force level. The level of experimentation continues to grow and is firmly rooted in real world operational lessons.”
Colonel Kevin Rafferty emphasized the increased importance of training and exercises across the Alliance: “The JWC continues to transform, and we look forward to the challenges that 2025 will provide us, and the opportunity to maintain the Alliance’s warfare advantage.”
Approximately 1,000 military and civilian staff participated in STEADFAST DAGGER 2024.
The primary training audiences of Exercise STEADFAST DAGGER 2024 included the Italian “Vittorio Veneto” Division (Land Component Command), the Spanish Maritime Component Command, the Turkish Joint Force Air Component Command and the Spanish Joint Special Operations Command.
Major General Ruprecht von Butler underlined the Centre’s crucial role in building multi-domain awareness across the Alliance through the Centre’s new series of STEADFAST exercises, which kicked off in 2024: STEADFAST DETERRENCE, STEADFAST DUEL and STEADFAST DAGGER.
Altogether, these exercises demonstrate the Joint Warfare Centre’s commitment to NATO’s ongoing adaptation to a multi-domain-capable Alliance.
– Major General Ruprecht von Butler, Commander JWC
Partnerships in Action
Military representatives from a diverse group of non-NATO countries visited the Joint Warfare Centre (JWC) to observe STEADFAST DAGGER 2024.
Observers from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Georgia, Iraq, Pakistan, and Tunisia gathered at the JWC as part of NATO’s partnership network, which focuses on open dialogue and practical cooperation.
During their visit, the observers also had the opportunity to participate in the JWC’s cooperative resource management wargame called, Dagger’s Edge – an educational tabletop board game created by the JWC’s Wargaming Branch, based on the STEADFAST DAGGER 2024 training scenario.
Lieutenant Colonel James Rossell, the lead planner of the exercise said: “This execution of the multi-national exercise has been the result of 18-months of collaboration and it have been both a privilege and honour to have worked closely with colleges from NATO with the same collective aim.”
