Response Force Commanders put to test in exercise Steadfast Jackpot 06
From 1 to 10 May, around 600 personnel from NATO countries are taking part in a computer-assisted exercise that will test their capability to command the NATO Response Force on a wide-range of missions.
STEADFAST JACKPOT 2006, a computer assisted, command post exercise, will take place during the period 01–10 May 2006. It will be conducted at two locations simultaneously: at the Joint Warfare Centre Ulsnes Training Facility, Stavanger, Norway and at a training area near Strasbourg, France .
Allied Joint Force Command HQ in Brunssum, the Netherlands will lead this exercise, which will involve around 600 personnel from various headquarters and units assigned to the seventh rotation of the NATO Response Force (NRF 7), to include HQ EUROCORPS, Component Command HQ Air Ramstein, the Spanish Maritime Force, the United States Special Operations Command Europe, the German Psychological Operations Centre and the Multinational Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defence Battalion. Personnel participating in the exercise will represent the full spectrum of NATO nations. The exercise will also involve a Spanish navy command and control ship, the ‘Castilla’, assigned to NRF.
A series of phased training events that began in January 2006 will culminate in STEADFAST JACKPOT 06, which is designed to train, validate and certify the chain of command and command and control elements dedicated to NRF. These events will provide the opportunity for the NRF-committed headquarters and forces to train as a combined and joint force leading a demonstration of force operation beyond NATO’s geographical area of responsibility in a fictitious scenario, under a Chapter VII UN mandate.
Press information facilities will operate in Stavanger , Norway , and in Strasbourg , France throughout the period of the exercise.