The Assistant Secretary General for Defence Investment and Permanent Chairman of the Conference, Patrick Auroy, opened the discussion which focused on Joint Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, Ballistic Missile Defence, the proposed CNAD Strategy and elements of the new CNAD Management Plan, and the Connected Forces Initiative (CFI).
“Developing a CNAD Strategy is particularly timely as NATO draws down from Afghanistan and we shift focus to maintaining our core capabilities in what is currently a fiscally challenging environment,” explained Mr Auroy. “CFI is about interoperability. Improving interoperability has always been key to the mission of the CNAD,” he added.
Burden sharing
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen joined the meeting, highlighting the importance of this conference and its role in finding innovative ways to generate and prioritise capabilities under current resource constraints.
“If we are to be prepared for the future beyond 2020, we must make important investment decisions today,” he said, encouraging nations to work together and underlining the necessity of sharing the burden of developing and delivering capabilities.
“We need to mark the path from the capabilities we have today to those we need in the future, and we need to begin to identify how we might work better together on important capabilities in the future,” said the Secretary General. “We must complete the transition from a deployed NATO to a prepared NATO: delivering critical capabilities now while also planning for the future, and finding new ways to generate new capabilities,” he added.
The European Defence Agency’s Deputy Chief Executive, Rini Goos, updated delegates on the Agency’s work.
Securing the future
The conference underlined the importance for Allies to work together to ensure a secure future in times of austerity.
The Armaments Directors agreed to continue supporting the work on the Joint Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance initiative. More specifically they agreed on the need for sustained implementation guidance and oversight, as well as solid management support from the NATO Communications and Information Agency to ensure technical coherence and mitigation of risks.
Delegates also approved the NATO staff requirement for Ballistic Missile Defence and highlighted the need for multilateral cooperation to become stronger in the future.
The CNAD Strategy and the new CNAD Management Plan will be finalised before the CNAD plenary meeting in the autumn. A progress report on the implementation of CFI will be prepared for the North Atlantic Council by July 2013.