STAVANGER, Norway – The Main Events List/Main Incidents List (MEL/MIL) Scripting Workshop for NATO Exercise STEADFAST DETERRENCE 2024 (STDC24) concluded on April 19.
Nearly 250 civilian and military personnel across NATO, representatives from governmental institutions and non-governmental organizations as well as external contractors participated in the workshop to continue the exercise content development plan for STDC24.
Directed by the Joint Warfare Centre (JWC), STDC24 is designed to train and certify NATO Rapid Deployable Corps Italy (NRDC-ITA) as the first Allied Reaction Force (ARF) headquarters, effective from July 2024.
STDC24 will be NATO’s first major joint exercise for the multi-domain ARF.
The two-week workshop was designed to develop a realistic simulation for the subsequent execution phase in May to ensure that the ARF is prepared for one of its key roles to support crisis prevention.
In his opening remarks on April 8, Major General Piotr Malinowski, Commander JWC, stated that NATO’s 2024 exercises represent “a paradigm shift in how the Alliance will train and validate its Command and Force elements to meet today’s and tomorrow’s strategic and operational challenges.”
The two-week workshop was designed to develop a realistic simulation for the subsequent execution phase in May to ensure that the Allied Reaction Force is prepared for one of its key roles to support crisis prevention.
Exercise STEADFAST DETERRENCE 2024 provides the first opportunity for NATO command elements to exercise pre-Article 5 military deterrence operations optimized for the requirements of the Deterrence and Defence of the Euro-Atlantic Area (DDA) concept, which provides NATO’s framework for stronger deterrence and defence in a multi-domain environment.
Major General (Ret.) Roger Lane, JWC’s Senior Exercise Control (EXCON) Advisor for STDC24, explained that the workshop was the final step in the JWC-led content development process.
“This is an exciting opportunity to explore the Allied Reaction Force concept for the first time in a realistic setting that reinforces the new Regional Plans. During exercise development, we have identified real-world lessons that will strengthen these plans and concepts. Critical to the success of this has been the further operationalization of space and cyber domains, as well as integrating our newest Allies, Sweden and Finland, into our exercises, alongside our hosts in Norway.”
STDC24 will also support Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe’s (SHAPE) transition to a strategic warfighting headquarters that will enable Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) to direct operations across his whole area of responsibility more effectively and efficiently than before.
