Exercise Cooperative Longbow -
Cooperative Lancer 09
Partnership- For- Peace Exercise In Georgia
MONS, BELGIUM - NATO will conduct exercises Cooperative Longbow 09 – Cooperative Lancer 09 during the period 6 May to 1 June 2009 in Georgia. Planning for these exercises began in spring 2008 with the aim of improving interoperability between NATO and partner countries, within the framework of Partnership for Peace, Mediterranean Dialogue and Istanbul Cooperation Initiative programmes.
Twenty nations will participate: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Canada, Croatia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia1, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and the United States.
Cooperative Longbow 09 is a command post exercise that focuses on training and exercising NATO staff skills and procedures, improving interoperability between NATO and partner nations for crisis response operations at the multinational brigade level. The exercise will be conducted in Tbilisi, Georgia, with approximately 650 personnel from NATO and partner countries being deployed to the Vaziani training area, twenty kilometres east of Tbilisi. The scenario is based on a fictitious United Nations mandated, NATO-led crisis response operation. Lieutenant General Cayetano Mirò Valls, Commander Allied Land Component Command Madrid, will command the exercise.
Cooperative Longbow 09 will be followed by a field training exercise, Cooperative Lancer 09, which is designed to provide basic training on peace support operations at the battalion level, and will take place at Vaziani barracks from 18 may to 01 June 2009. Cooperative Lancer will involve approximately 450 troops.
These exercises are part of the NATO Partnership-for-Peace programme, allowing partner countries to build up an individual relationship with NATO. Cooperation with the partner countries is an integral part of the alliance’s security policy and plays an important role in its day-to-day work. Through its pursuit of cooperation and different forms of partnership with non-member countries, NATO contributes to promote security and stability for the benefit of all.
NOTE FOR EDITOR’s:
A NATO media information centre will be established in Vaziani from 6 May to 1 June 2009 for media enquiries/requirements.
Preliminary information requests may be addressed to:
Lieutenant Colonel Luis Aparicio,
CC Land Madrid Chief Public Affairs Office
Telephone: +34 915126398 - e-mail: luis.apa@lamd.nato.int
1. Turkey recognises the Republic of Macedonia with its constitutional name.
Contact Information for Allied Command Operations Public Affairs Office at SHAPE
Tel: +32 (0)65 44 4119 (week days 08.30 – 17.30)
Mobile: +32 (0)475 77 31 05 (week days 08.30 –17.30, weekends and holidays)
shapepao@shape.nato.int - www.nato.int/shape
