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Allied leaders agree to launch the NRF at their summit meeting in Prague as part of efforts to transform and adapt NATO’s capabilities to 21st century challenges.
NATO Defence Ministers meeting in Brussels approve the concept of the NRF. The NRF consists of a highly capable joint multinational force able to react in a very short time to the full range of security challenges. It also serves as a catalyst for improving the Alliance’s overall military capabilities.
NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and Supreme Allied Commander Europe General James L. Jones inaugurate the NRF at a ceremony at NATO’s regional headquarters in Brunssum, the Netherlands. "NATO will no longer have the large, massed units that were necessary for the Cold War, but will have agile and capable forces at graduated readiness levels that will better prepare the Alliance to meet any threat that it is likely to face in this 21st century." – General Jones.
The first elements of the NRF show their capabilities in a crisis-response exercise in Doğanbey, Turkey.
Exercise Destined Glory held in Sardinia, Italy serves to demonstrate the initial operational capability of the NRF.
At an informal meeting of NATO Defence Ministers in Poiana Brasov, Romania, the NATO Secretary General and Supreme Allied Commander Europe announce that the NRF has reached its initial operational capability.
After Hurricane Katrina hits the Gulf Coast of the United States, NATO launches an operation to transport urgently needed items. Some air capabilities of the NRF and NATO Airborne Early Warning training and cargo aircraft are used.
The NRF tests its capability to conduct complex sea-based operations in NATO’s amphibious exercise, Destined Glory (Loyal Midas) in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the coast of Italy. Over 8,500 personnel, 37 ships and 57 aircraft from ten NATO countries take part in the exercise.
Following a devastating earthquake in Pakistan, the Alliance launches an intensive three-month relief operation in response to a request for assistance from the Pakistani government. Some 1,000 engineers and support staff and 200 medical personnel from the NRF are deployed along with specialist equipment.
Exercise Steadfast Jaguar in the Cape Verde Islands evaluates the NRF’s full operational capability. It is the first exercise to employ simultaneously all NRF components – air, maritime, land and Special Operations Forces.
At NATO's summit meeting in Riga, the full operational capability of the NRF is declared.
The NRF is based on a rotational system in which nations commit land, air, maritime or Special Operations Forces units to the Immediate Response Force. Rotations were initially for a six-month period, but since 2012 the rotation periods have been extended to 12 months.
Defence ministers meeting at NATO HQ agree that the NRF will be at the core of the Connected Forces Initiative. The aim is to maintain NATO’s readiness and combat-effectiveness through expanded education and training, increased exercises and a better use of technology to enhance forces interoperability. Ministers also announce plans for a major live exercise in 2015.
Steadfast Jazz kicked off on 2 November 2013 across Europe, including the Baltic States and Poland. The exercise involves air, land, maritime and Special Operations Forces components. It also involves military headquarters staff from Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum, which will have to be certified to lead the NATO Response Force next year. All 28 NATO Allies, as well as Finland, Sweden and Ukraine are taking part in the exercise. The event marks the culmination of a series of dynamic and demanding exercises, designed to train and test troops and commanders who will serve in the 2014 rotation of the NRF.
At the Wales Summit, Allies decide to enhance the NRF and establish a Very High Readiness Joint Task Force that can deploy within a few days to respond to challenges that arise. They also agree to hold a multinational, high-visibility exercise, “Trident Juncture 2015”, with the participation of the NRF, to be hosted by Italy, Portugal and Spain.
NATO Foreign Ministers agree to establish an interim Very High Readiness Joint Task Force, or “spearhead force”, coordinated by the Supreme Allied Commander Europe with forces predominantly from Germany, the Netherlands and Norway, available to the Alliance early 2015.
NATO Defence Ministers decide that the VJTF will consist of a land component of around 5,000 troops with appropriate air, maritime and Special Operations Forces components available. France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom will assume lead roles for the VJTF on a rotational basis in the coming years.
The VJTF has its first deployment exercise in Poland. More than 1,500 troops take part in exercise Noble Jump designed to test whether troops assigned to NATO’s VJTF can be ready to deploy 48 hours after receiving an order to move.
NATO defence ministers decide that the NRF will now consist of up to 40,000 personnel, take measures to speed up political and military decision-making, approve the Graduated Response Plans – enabling executable operations plans to be generated exceptionally quickly, and also agree on the establishment of a new standing joint logistics support group headquarters within the NATO Command Structure.
NATO defence ministers give their green light to the completed military concept for the enhanced NATO Response Force, including its command and control arrangements.
During exercise Trident Juncture in late 2015, the VJTF is tested and certified for 2016. The exercise also certifies the NRF headquarters for 2016: Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum.
Defence ministers declare initial operational capability (IOC) for NATO’s Joint Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (JISR) initiative. This IOC is centred on enhancing the situational awareness of the NRF through heightened proficiency in collecting, processing and exchanging intelligence.
At the NATO Summit in Warsaw, Allied leaders welcome the implementation of the Readiness Action Plan (RAP) and, through its longer-term adaptation measures, the enhancement of the NRF and the new VJTF, able to begin deployment within two to three days.
As the lead headquarters for the NRF during 2017, Allied Joint Force Command (JFC) Naples will be supported by the UK’s Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (for Land operations), Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO (STRIKFORNATO), the United Kingdom’s Joint Force Air Component, the Special Operations Component Command, the Joint Logistics Support Group from JFC Naples and the Multinational Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Battalion led by the Czech Republic. Combat forces from across the Alliance have been placed on high readiness and are available to support NRF 2017 if required.
Headquarters Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (based in Gloucestershire, United Kingdom) officially takes over as the Land Component Command of the 2017 NRF from NATO Rapid Deployable Corps-Spain. Also changing hands is the helm of NATO’s VJTF (Land) from Spain's 7th Spanish Infantry Brigade to the United Kingdom's 20th Armoured Infantry Brigade.
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