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ACT Identifies and Develops Capabilities Necessary for Collective Defence [1]

['Brian Sostak']

Date: 2023-07-18 17:54:16+00:00

Allied Command Transformation is supporting NATO’s collective defence efforts, identifying the capabilities NATO needs to meet the Alliance’s Level of Ambition and speeding the delivery of common-funded capabilities within agreed upon cost, schedule, and performance constraints.

At the recently concluded NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, Heads of State and Government agreed to strengthen NATO’s collective defence against all threats, from all directions. They also agreed to enhance the Alliance’s deterrence and defence across all domains through new regional plans, strengthening command and control capabilities, bolstering forces along the Eastern Flank, and investing in more advanced, interoperable military capabilities.

Commenting on the increased defence spending needed to resource these ambitions, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg noted, “We need to invest more in defence. Our latest estimates show that defence expenditure by European Allies and Canada will increase by 8.3% in 2023. This is the biggest increase in decades. Since 2014, they will have invested an extra 450 billion US dollars in defence. Eleven Allies now reach or exceed the 2% benchmark. And we expect this number will rise substantially next year.”

As NATO’s Warfare Development Command, Allied Command Transformation is uniquely positioned to support the development and delivery of military capabilities to Allied warfighters. As a contributor to the NATO Defence Planning Process, Allied Command Transformation plays a vital role in helping NATO identify the capabilities that it requires to meet the Level of Ambition set by Allies. This work is critical, with Allies noting at the Vilnius Summit Communiqué that, “The NATO Defence Planning Process plays a key role in the sharing of risks and responsibilities, and we reaffirm our commitment to providing our respective shares of the capabilities required by the Alliance to fulfil our three core tasks. Our capability development plans will ensure that we maintain our technological edge, recognising the challenges and opportunities presented by emerging and disruptive technologies, while ensuring their timely integration.”

Allied Command Transformation contributes to all steps of the NATO Defence Planning Process, taking the lead during Step 2 and the initial part of Step 3, and supporting the remaining three steps. Following the approval of the Political Guidance for Defence Planning 2023 in February, the Command has been deeply immersed in efforts to translate Allied guidance into the Capability Requirements that will enable NATO to achieve its revised Level of Ambition. It is also reviewing the results of the previous Defence Planning cycle alongside other NATO entities and is preparing to lead and support, respectively, the apportionment of requirements and the setting of Capability Targets in 2024.

In addition to the NATO Defence Planning Process, Allied Command Transformation is speeding the delivery of common-funded capabilities required by NATO to address widely acknowledged shortfalls, ensuring the Alliance maintains its warfighting edge. The Command plays a pivotal role in the delivery of common-funded capabilities, acting as the Capability Requirement Authority while also ensuring complete cycle management from the definition of the operational requirement up to the final delivery of the warfighters needs. This places the Command at the centre of the delivery process – transforming required operational capabilities identified by Allied Command Operations into a programme plan that can be handed off to implementing entities or host Nations. Allied Command Transformation also fosters a programmatic approach that enables a standardised process, covering the entire capability life-cycle and the capability lines of effort (Doctrine, Organization, Training, Materiel, Leadership Development, Personnel, Facilities, and Interoperability) to capture the full benefits from allocated resources.

Currently, Allied Command Transformation manages more than 30 Common-Funded Capability Programmes and delivers management products to Allies for their decisions on critical capability areas. One example of the Command’s efforts in this area is the modernization of NATO’s Core and Communication Services with the Information Technology-Modernization Programme. This programme is enabling NATO’s Digital Transformation by sustaining and enhancing the Alliance’s existing core communications network services, providing the required connectivity across NATO entities to support its Command, Control, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance tools. While NATO’s annual common funds make up only a fraction of total Allied defence spending, it has an outsized and positive impact on the Alliance’s capabilities by providing the necessary resources for the provision of a capability or conduct of an activity that serves the interests of the Alliance as a whole.

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[1] Url: https://www.act.nato.int/article/capabilities-for-collective-defence/

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