STAVANGER, Norway – NATO is preparing for the execution phase of this year’s largest computer-assisted command post exercise: STEADFAST DUEL 2024.
Scheduled by the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe and directed by the Joint Warfare Centre (JWC), STEADFAST DUEL 2024 is one of the first exercises designed under NATO’s new exercise process to rapidly build NATO readiness and warfare advantage in response to a threat against any NATO ally.
Bringing together more than 20 NATO Command and Force Structure headquarters, including Allied Joint Force Command Naples and Allied Air Command, Exercise STEADFAST DUEL 2024 is designed to train and test the participants in the collective defence of the Euro-Atlantic area at the operational and higher tactical levels.
Exercise Control (EXCON) training for STEADFAST DUEL 2024 started on 17 October, at the JWC.
The nerve centre of the exercise, the EXCON commands and controls its delivery. Training together prior to the start of the exercise ensures that JWC staff and exercise participants build a cohesive team and develop a shared understanding of the EXCON structures, in particular the roles of the Higher Control Cell and the Lower Control Cell, in directing the action of the exercise.
The Higher Control Cell plays the role of the policy makers in NATO Headquarters, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, and the operational and tactical-level commands. The Lower Control Cell simulates the actions, coordination and decisions for the lower tactical level headquarters, with all the associated ships, equipment and aircraft representing all NATO capabilities in a multi-domain environment.
“Through your collective efforts, we will ensure the best training effect for our multiple training audiences. STEADFAST DUEL 2024 provides an excellent opportunity for us to showcase our strategic and operational capabilities, and demonstrate our commitment to NATO’s collective defence.”
- Major General Ruprecht von Butler, Commander JWC and the exercise director
Addressing the EXCON staff, Major General Ruprecht von Butler, Commander JWC and the Exercise Director, described the importance of centralized control to the overall success of the exercise:
“With the help of synthetic scenarios; Higher Control, Lower Control, and other EXCON functions, you describe the outer world for the training audiences, providing the most realistic training possible for all involved. Without this realism, the exercise would never work.”
“Through your collective efforts, we will ensure the best training effect for our multiple training audiences. STEADFAST DUEL 2024 provides an excellent opportunity for us to showcase our strategic and operational capabilities, and demonstrate our commitment to NATO’s collective defence.”
Colonel Kevin Rafferty, JWC’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Exercises, Training and Innovation Directorate, as the Chief of the Exercise Control team, amplified the aims of the exercise:
“The JWC’s exercises have been redesigned to meet the requirements of the Supreme Allied Commander Europe for increased realism. Our collective aim is to simulate a complex 360-degree picture of the war-fighting environment so that participants can achieve their training objectives and practice joint command and control across air, land, sea, space and cyber domains.”
