JÅTTÅ/ULSNES: This week 26 members of the Senior Resource Board visited the Joint Warfare Centre to gain understanding of how the centre operates. ”Our general impression of this centre is very good,” said the chairman. The Senior Resource Board consists of one representative from every member nation in the alliance, which makes a total of 26. It has the superior responsibility for providing premises and facilities for the Joint Warfare Centre in Stavanger and its subordinate Joint Force Training Centre in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

“We are here to decide which needs the centre has to become fully operative, and to learn what the Joint Warfare Centre is all about”, told John I. Laugerud, chairman Senior Resource Board. The board arrived in Stavanger 25 May, and has been guided and briefed through the headquarters at Jåttå the last two days. Today they visited the training facilities at Ulsnes Naval Base, and got to see where the Joint Warfare trains and prepares Nato forces on the operational level.

“To have these facilities is a great deal for Nato,” said the chairman. “Norway has contributed a lot to get the centre up and running by providing these premises free of charge,” he continued. A lot of work is being done at Ulsnes these days, preparing the Naval Base to train the headquarters for the 6th International Security Assistance Force (HQ ISAF VI), but when the premises are free of charge the cost is at a minimum.

Also attending the visit was Admiral Sir Ian Forbes, Deputy Director Allied Command Transformation in Norfolk, Virginia. “There has been done good work to improve these interim facilities, and now they are providing good training opportunities for NATO!” he concluded.