Media-Backgrounder Trident Juncture 2015

15 JUL 2015
Exercise Trident Juncture 2015, the Alliance’s most important exercise in 2015 and a flagship activity for NATO’s Connected Forces Initiative (CFI), is the largest exercise conducted by the Alliance since 2002. Trident Juncture 2015 will have two parts:
• Command Post Exercise (CPX) for Strategic and Operational level staff training, evaluation and certification (3-16 October);
• Live Exercise (LIVEX) for Tactical level troops engagements (21 October – 06 November).
In the spirit of train-as-you-fight, the CPX portion of Trident Juncture 2015 represents a venue for trainees to deal with the SOROTAN scenario which provides a setting that enables an out-of-area Crises Response Operation, showcasing NATO’s flexibility in the face of advanced threats and addressing many NATO training priorities simultaneously.

Scope of the Exercise
Trident Juncture 2015 involves 36.000 personnel from more than 30 Countries and takes place throughout Italy, Portugal, Spain, Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. A challenging and dynamic event, the exercise demonstrates NATO’s level of ambition in Joint modern warfare. As the culminating event for many units, military and civilian staff training to serve as part of the NATO Response Forces NRF, Trident Juncture 2015 provides an opportunity for them and also for non-NRF assets, to refine their capabilities.

Aim of Trident Juncture 2015
The aim of Trident Juncture 2015 is to facilitate the testing of the command & control (C2) concept, interoperability, strategic communication, intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTAR), and to test the NATO Response Force (NRF) a high-readiness and technologically advanced multinational force comprising Land, Air, Maritime and Special Forces components that the Alliance can deploy quickly wherever needed, to handle any situation in any environment. The NRF must be able to respond to the full spectrum of potential missions, including contributing to the preservation of territorial integrity, making a demonstration of force, peace support operations, disaster relief, protection of critical infrastructure, security operations and, as part of a larger force, conducting initial entry operations. This requires exercising complex capabilities employed by interoperable and multinational forces in a demanding environment.
Trident Juncture 2015 provides the structure for Allies and Partners to train and exercise coherently, reinforces full-spectrum joint and combined training and promotes interoperability. In between this framework, NATO is also testing the functions of the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF), also known as the Spearhead Force, whose establishment was decided after the NATO’s Defence Minister Meeting decision on February 2015. Centred on a multinational brigade with some elements ready to move within 2 to 3 days, this force is provided by Allies in rotation and is trained and organized to rapidly respond to contingencies.

Trident Juncture 2015 is designed to test both live forces and also those involved with the command and control of NRF troops using the SOROTAN fictional scenario, developed by Joint Warfare Centre in Stavanger which provides a multi-layered complexity to challenge the Trident Juncture 2015 staff to deal with Strategic and Operational procedures and finally sustainability of staff elements within the Headquarters. This scenario will also test NATO’s operational level training audiences’ capabilities to work through the ambiguities that surround hybrid warfare.

Trident Juncture 2015 Components
Contributions from many NATO Allies and several Partner nations demonstrate NATO’s readiness to defend its members using a wide range of modern weapons systems, in a realistic multinational environment. Both the command and control and live components of the exercise contribute to maintaining the unparalleled level of interoperability among Allies and Partners as a result of recent and intense operational experiences. A transportable modular headquarters complex, known as Capability Package 156 (CP 156) provides office space for hundreds of personnel deployed to Trident Juncture 2015 and NATO with the capability to conduct the command and control of operational forces when permanent infrastructure is not available, such as on military operations in austere areas.

Participants of the Command Post Exercise are:
Allied Joint Force Command Headquarters Brunssum;
Spanish NATO Rapid Deployable Corps;
United Kingdom Maritime Force;
Italian Joint Force Air Component Command;
United States Special Operations Command Europe;
Joint Logistics Support Group from Allied Joint Force Command Headquarters Brunssum
Multinational CBRN Battalion led by Poland;
German led Operational Communications Task Force;
More than a dozen of International Organizations, Aid Agencies and Non-Governmental Organizations.

Participants of the Live Exercise are:
36,000 personnel;
4 Brigade Size Units;
More than 60 ships and submarines;
Over 140 aircraft.
Overall, more than 230 different Units (Land, Air, Maritime, SOF, CBRN, Logistics) and equipment types will participate in the exercise.
Source: NATO

By

L. J. De Rothschild

Senior Editor

NATO Section

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