The Joint Warfare Centre (JWC) was established on October 23, 2003, as an organization of the NATO Military Command Structure and under the newly created Allied Command Transformation (ACT). Taking over the facility from the NATO Joint Headquarters North in Jåttå, Stavanger, Norway, during a period shaped by major changes in the international security environment, the new organization was designed both to deliver training to NATO headquarters at the joint operational level and to assist NATO strategic commands in the implementation of various transformation processes, such as doctrine development and the conduct of experimentation.
Twenty years later, the JWC remains at the heart of the Alliance’s operational readiness. It holds this position even after successive evolutions due to shifts in the strategic situation (such as the dedication to HQ ISAF predeployment training in the early years), redistribution of training responsibilities within NATO strategic commands, and internal restructuring.
While it is involved in many of the transformation processes under HQ SACT, the JWC works in close collaboration with Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) and Allied Command Operations (ACO) to deliver large-scale exercises whose primary training audiences are usually the joint force commands and the command posts of the NATO Response Force (NRF).
This bridging role between ACT and ACO is explicitly illustrated by the shape of the “Kjerag boulder” at the top of the Kjerag mountain, a popular destination for hikers in the county of Rogaland just a couple of hours from Stavanger. Just as the parts of the mountain are not structurally dependent on the presence of the boulder, the strategic chains of command would not collapse without the presence of the JWC.
The simile is rather meant to suggest that the JWC is equally engaged in supporting each of the strategic headquarters, for the sole purpose of “making NATO better.”
The wide spectrum of the JWC’s activities is expressed clearly in its latest mission statement: “The Joint Warfare Centre plans, prepares, and executes static and distributed joint operational-level training in support of warfare development and warfighting readiness.
Furthermore, it supports concept development and the maintenance of joint operational doctrine and standards and coordinates the integration of experimentation and capability development in order to maximize transformational efforts to improve NATO’s interoperability, capabilities, and operational effectiveness.
The JWC contributes to developing and strengthening relationships and integration of national training and command organizations, governmental and non-governmental organizations, as well as regional security organizations and partners, in accordance with established policy and principles.
To read the full article, click here: https://www.jwc.nato.int/application/files/5517/1193/4186/dualrole.pdf