STAVANGER, Norway – General Erhard Bühler, Commander Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum (JFC Brunssum), visited the Joint Warfare Centre (JWC) on Saturday and Sunday, November 9 and 10, to observe the ongoing NATO Exercise TRIDENT JUPITER 19-1 (TRJU19-1).

 

General Bühler was welcomed by Rear Admiral Jan C. Kaack, Commander JWC.

TRJU19-1 is a high-intensity Computer-Assisted Command Post Exercise (CAX/CPX) directed by the JWC. The main goal of the exercise is to train, evaluate, and certify the Component Commands of the NATO Response Force 2020 (NRF20) and the Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO (STRIKFORNATO) as the NATO Expanded Task Force.

TRJU19-1 is the first iteration of NATO’s three-part “TRIDENT JUPITER 19 Exercise Campaign” which is based upon a fictitious Article 5 scenario testing the Training Audiences in all domains of warfare and addressing the whole spectrum of Small Joint Operations and Major Joint Operations Plus. The training scenario of TRJU19-1 supports the specific Exercise and Training Objectives of the different Training Audiences, challenging them across the two Joint Operational Areas and ensuring the continued readiness of the NATO Command and Force Structure Headquarters.

As a three-level defensive exercise, TRJU19-1 will eventually test the Alliance’s defence capabilities and interoperability, and demonstrate the shared commitment between the Allies to maintaining the continued security of Europe.

“The NATO Joint Warfare Centre worked tirelessly to build the scenario for TRIDENT JUPITER 19 with the desired effect to make NATO better through a complex operational level exercise.” 
- General Erhard Bühler, Commander Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum

General Erhard Bühler, Commander Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum and Rear Admiral Jan C. Kaack, Commander JWC, November 10, 2019

General Bühler: “Well-trained soldiers, competent and passionate leaders”

General Bühler noted: “TRIDENT JUPITER 19-1 is the first part of the exercise campaign that will train and certify the NRF20 package for which JFC Brunssum will be the standby command next year. I am pleased to return to the JWC for the second time this year to engage with Rear Admiral Kaack, observe the exercise, and meet with the Eurocorps leadership and staff, who will be certified as the land component command for NRF20.”

General Bühler added: “The NATO Joint Warfare Centre worked tirelessly to build the scenario for TRIDENT JUPITER 19 with the desired effect to make NATO better through a complex operational level exercise.”

General Bühler praised the achievements of the NRF20 personnel. “I have seen well-engaged and well-trained soldiers, competent and passionate leaders with outstanding capabilities; they are excellent and prepared for NRF20.”

TRJU19-1 involves personnel from more than 30 NATO Member and Partner Nations and fourteen Training Audiences at ten different exercise locations across Europe, including USS Mount Whitney, the command and control ship for STRIKFORNATO.

More than 3,000 civilian and military staff will work together in the exercise as participants, evaluators and observers.

In 2020, under the lead of JFC Brunssum, the NRF’s land forces will be controlled by the Eurocorps in Strasbourg, France; maritime forces by the Spanish Navy High Readiness Forces Headquarters (SP MARFOR) in Rota, Spain; and air forces by the Joint Force Air Component (JFAC) at NATO’s Allied Air Command (AIRCOM) in Ramstein, Germany; with Poland providing the Special Operations Component Command.

The NRF comprises 40,000 troops and is a highly ready and technologically advanced, multinational force made up of land, air, maritime and special operations forces components that the Alliance can deploy quickly, wherever needed. The operational command of the NRF alternates between Allied Joint Force Commands in Brunssum and Naples.

General Bühler was the Commander of the Joint Warfare Centre from June 2013 to September 2014. “Coming to Stavanger is every time a welcomed trip to my own past when I was the Commander of JWC a few years ago,” General Bühler said.

Subordinate to Allied Command Transformation (ACT) in Norfolk, Virginia, the United States, the JWC is the premier collective training establishment of the Alliance at the operational level.

As NATO’s full-spectrum, cross-functional operational-level training and warfare centre in the North, the JWC is committed to ensuring the operational readiness of NATO staffs and their commanders.

Photos from General Erhard Bühler's Visit and Exercise TRIDENT JUPITER 19-1, Stavanger, Norway