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At their meeting on 12 June 2003 , Alliance Defence Ministers agreed on the design of a new streamlined military command structure. It will be leaner, more flexible, more efficient, and better able to conduct the full range of Alliance missions.
At the strategic level, there is now one command with operational responsibilities, Allied Command Operations commanded by SACEUR. It performs the operational duties undertaken before by Allied Command Europe and Allied Command Atlantic. SACEUR continues to be dual-hatted as Commander US European Command. A new functional command, Allied Command Transformation, commanded by SACT (the Supreme Allied Commander Transformation) was established to take responsibility for promoting and overseeing the continuing transformation of Alliance forces and capabilities. SACT is also dual-hatted as Commander, US Joint Forces Command.
Allied Command Operations, with its headquarters, SHAPE, near Mons, Belgium, is responsible for all Alliance operations. The levels beneath SHAPE have been significantly streamlined, with a reduction in the number of headquarters. The operational level consists of two standing Joint Force Commands (JFCs) one in Brunssum, the Netherlands, and one in Naples, Italy - which can conduct operations from their static locations or provide a land-based Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF) headquarters and a robust but more limited standing Joint Headquarters (JHQ), in Lisbon, Portugal, from which a deployable sea-based CJTF HQ capability can be drawn.
The component or tactical level consists of six Joint Force Component Commands (JFCCs), which provide service-specific - land, maritime, or air - expertise to the operational level. Although these component commands are available for use in any operation, they are subordinated to one of the Joint Force Commanders. For the Joint Force Command in Brunssum, there will be an Air Component Command at Ramstein, Germany; a Maritime Component Command at Northwood in the United Kingdom; and a Land Component Command at Heidelberg, Germany. For the Joint Force Command in Naples, there is an Air Component Command at Izmir, Turkey; a Maritime Component Command in Naples; and a Land Component Command at Madrid, Spain.
In addition to these component commands, there are four static Combined Air Operations Centres (CAOCs) - in Uedem, Germany; Finderup, Denmark; Poggio Renatico, Italy; and Larissa, Greece; and two deployable CAOCs - in Uedem and Poggio Renatico. As the deployable CAOCs need to exercise their capability to mobilise and deploy, the current facilities at Torrejon Air Base in Spain are the primary site for training and exercising in that region. A small NATO air facility support staff is stationed at Torrejon to support this capability.
Allied Command Transformation, with its headquarters in Norfolk, US, oversees the transformation of NATO's military capabilities. In doing so, it enhances training, improves capabilities, tests and develops doctrines and conducts experiments to assess new concepts. It also facilitates the dissemination and introduction of new concepts and promotes interoperability.
There is an ACT Staff Element in Belgium primarily for resource and defence planning issues.
ACT includes the Joint Warfare Centre in Norway, a new Joint Force Training Centre in Poland and the Joint Analysis and Lessons Learned Centre in Portugal. ACT Headquarters also supervises the Undersea Research Centre in La Spezia, Italy. There are direct linkages between ACT, Alliance schools and NATO agencies, as well as the US Joint Forces Command. A NATO Maritime Interdiction Operational Training Centre in Greece, associated with ACT, is also envisaged. In addition, a number of nationally- or multinationally-sponsored Centres of Excellence focused on transformation in specific military fields support the command.
In sum, the new structure implies the following key changes:
