NRF emblem (GIF/61Kb)
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The NATO Response Force (NRF) is a highly ready and technologically advanced force made up of land, air, sea and special forces components that the Alliance can deploy quickly wherever needed.
It is capable of performing missions worldwide across the whole spectrum of operations. These include evacuations, disaster management, counterterrorism, and acting as ‘an initial entry force’ for larger, follow-on forces.
It can number up to 25,000 troops and start to deploy after five days’ notice and sustain itself for operations lasting 30 days or longer if resupplied.
The force gives NATO the means to respond swiftly to various types of crises anywhere in the world. It is also a driving engine of NATO’s military transformation.
More...In September 2002, the US Secretary for Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, put forward a proposal to create a NATO rapid reaction force. The launching of the NATO Response Force initiative was announced several months later, at the Prague Summit in November 2002, together with the other major military transformation initiatives - the Prague Capabilities Commitment and the fundamental revision of the NATO military command structure.
More...Political authorisation to use the NATO Response Force will be given on a case-by-case basis by the North Atlantic Council, NATO’s principal decision-making body, and will obviously be the result of a consensual decision, as is the case for all NATO decisions.
