Article first published in Krasnaya Zvezda, a newspaper published by the Russian Ministry of Defence, on 26 Feb. 2004 [Russian] [English]

Enhancing interoperability by General Harald Kujat Chairman of NATO's Military Committee and of the NATO-Russia Council-Military Representatives It is again a great honour to be able to convey to you, the readers of Krasnaya Zvezda, my thoughts about the NATO-Russia relationship. Much has happened since my last contribution to this newspaper. As we approach the second anniversary of the historic meeting of Heads of State in Rome, which established the NATO Russia Council (NRC), this is an opportune moment to look back at some of the milestones in our deepening relationship and to describe some of the plans NATO and Russia have jointly developed for the future. It is important to remember that Chiefs of Defence provide military advice on subjects that often have a significant political dimension. Likewise, the changing political landscape shapes the agenda and priorities of the NRC-Military Representatives (NRC-MR) as they represent the Chiefs of Defence. Terrorism has created a complex security environment, posing threats which are difficult to define and combat. Many nations have had recent experience of terrorism and national responses often have a military aspect. It is therefore fortunate that national military representatives are able to meet together on equal terms in the NRC-MR forum and discuss the problems that face us all and to try to develop strategies for dealing with them. One of the aims of the NRC-MR is to explore ways to develop training to better prepare for combating terrorism. In October 2003, for example, Russian experts and representatives from most NATO nations gathered to examine the use of non-lethal weapons in terrorist situations. Experiences, technical information, capabilities and legal problems associated with all aspects of the subject were discussed in detail. Ongoing work in examining the role of the military in the fight against terrorism will continue at a high level conference in April, the third at this level. Following on from successful events in Rome and Moscow, this conference will be hosted by the Alliance’s new Strategic Command Transformation, based in Norfolk, the United States, which plays a key role in implementing NATO’s ongoing adaptation to meet new security threats and acts as a forcing agent for change. The cooperative effort against terrorism remains one of the NRC’s main objectives and this is an area where the military will continue to play a key role in transforming shared political aims into concrete operational realities. However, the fight against terrorism is not our only common interest, or the only area where military forces support our shared political aims. One of our overarching goals is to develop forces able to operate together in the field of peace support operations: Russian and NATO forces working together for the common good. The early experience of practical military-to-military co-operation between NATO and Russia, where Russian servicemen served alongside NATO troops in SFOR and KFOR, demonstrated that much could be achieved by the military working together. However, while this show of political ambition and military cooperation did contribute to increased stability in the Balkans, it also highlighted the many practical difficulties we face in realising our strategic objectives. The Balkan operations taught us many lessons, including that there are many differences between Russian and NATO nations’ military forces, not just in what we do and how we do it, but also in our organisation, command structures and logistic support organisations. As a result, cooperation between our military forces proved more challenging than might have been imagined at first glance. Our mutual experiences in the Balkans also showed that full "interoperability" – that is, the ability of forces to work together easily and effectively to achieve a common mission – was hampered by language, incompatible assets and different operating procedures. Therefore, in order to increase the scope for closer cooperation and the range of future operations in which NATO and Russia might wish to participate together, one of our most important challenges is to enhance interoperability. Another focus of our work is force protection: ensuring the security of our forces, when called upon to operate in an unstable environment, is an essential element of any operation, particularly against the threat of air attack. To address this threat, our experts have already developed an experimental agreement on how to do this, and they will be testing this in the coming year. If successful, this will be a major contribution to improving interoperability. The desire to achieve enhanced interoperability has led to a major initiative in the area of exercises and training, aimed at identifying more precisely what is needed to enable forces to enhance their ability to work effectively together. NATO and Russian training experts have developed ambitious programmes, for both 2003 and 2004. The initial focus of this initiative is on improving capabilities in communications. Effective communications are essential for interoperability at the strategic, operational and tactical levels, across the full spectrum of military operations. Communications also encompasses a wide range of subjects. There is a Russian saying that true co-operation requires partners to “find a common language”. In the field of joint military operations, this is quite literally true. At a basic level, simply being able to understand each other’s language, or to use a common language, is essential to achieving interoperability. The 2003 NRC Exercise and Training Programme included 21 framework activities. These ranged from participation in exercises – for example, Exercise Cooperative Best Effort, a land-based peace support exercise, with aspects focusing on communications interoperability, which took place in Armenia in June – through workshops focusing on common operating procedures, to terminology and language classes. Russia also invited five NATO officers to participate in a Search-and-Rescue course at a Russian Air Force special training centre in the Krasnador region of Russia in October. In conjunction with the 2003 programme, a NATO-Russia Joint Tactical Experience Study Group was formed to study “lessons learned” from operational experiences in the Balkans and to assess the tactics, techniques and procedures used in that theatre of operations. The work of this group will contribute to further developing communications interoperability. A more ambitious Exercise and Training programme for 2004 was agreed by the NRC Chiefs of Defence in November 2003. Its 57 activities include venues to exercise and assess communications interoperability in maritime, air and land environments, as well as workshops and seminars on communications and information systems, terminology, military systems and concepts. Vehicles for training include existing exercises, seminars at both military commands and academic institutions, and "imported education" by means of mobile training teams. Activities are being organised in both Russia and NATO member states. This will allow NATO and Russian military professionals, staffs, trainers and educators to practice and exercise interoperability activities and assess them. The long-term aim is to integrate the results of this work into each other’s military training and education systems. One new aspect of joint training is the development, through a range of activities, of a cadre of NATO and Russian military professionals familiar with each other’s strategy and tactics. Furthermore, this year should see the implementation of an unprecedented initiative in the area of military academic cooperation. Through academic exchanges, NATO and Russian trainers will formally instruct at each other’s military academic institutions as part of the standing curricula, helping to integrate the products of joint training and interoperability initiatives into the respective military educational systems. These new training opportunities underscore the very serious intent on all sides to make our mutual training relationship a permanent and integral part of our military training and education systems Little of this work would be of benefit unless its results are measured and lessons drawn from them. The effectiveness and progress of the programme will therefore be analysed at a joint Interoperability Assessment Conference to be conducted in May 04 in Norfolk, U.S.A. Mixed achievements were seen in the naval elements of NATO-Russia cooperative activity in 2003, but there are good prospects for increased activity in 2004 and beyond. Search and Rescue at Sea, an area of NATO-Russia co-operation identified explicitly by Heads of State and Government in the Rome Declaration, saw some significant developments, including the February 2003 signature of a NATO-Russia Framework Document, which gives us a formal structure to underpin joint work in this important field. By working together within this structure, we can prepare ourselves to react more effectively should the need arise. We are exploring new areas of cooperation and breaking new ground in important ways. Not so long ago, our contacts were limited to ad hoc meetings of experts, and Russian officers came to NATO exercises only as observers. Now we are aiming for much more. As an indication of what we hope to achieve over the longer term, the NATO Industrial Advisory Group will this year begin to study the international interoperability of Submarine Rescue Systems and, for the first time, Russian industry has been invited to collaborate. This is a significant milestone in building trust between NATO and Russia. As working together increasingly becomes the rule rather than the exception, we need to plan much further into the future. What started as an annual programme has evolved and now has a more long-term character. In 2005, for example, NATO will conduct the triennial Exercise "Sorbet Royal", its main submarine search and rescue exercise. For the first time, Russia will participate with her own rescue ship. This exercise requires a significant amount of planning, and we look forward to working together on this, from the start. To have NATO and Russian ships operating together in this way will be a true symbol of progress made since the creation of the NRC. For 2004, the NRC-MR is preparing two visits of NATO’s Standing Naval Forces to seaports of the Russian Federation, one in the Baltic Sea and the other in the Black Sea. Furthermore, the NRC-MR is looking at ways to manage reciprocal naval activities and to support visits of Russian naval units to seaports of NATO nations. Such naval activities often require a great deal of advance planning, and plans are already being developed for training opportunities in 2005 and beyond. Last year, I stressed how NATO and Russia were making strenuous efforts to develop and enhance logistic cooperation, since this is the backbone of any military operation. So much has happened in this area in the past year and is planned for the next, that it would be impossible to explain in appropriate detail in this article. However, this continues to be an important item on the agenda of the NRC-MC and, on 26 January 2004, the NRC agreed to the creation of an Ad Hoc Working Group on Logistics under joint civilian-military chairmanship. A significant feature of many NATO-Russia activities is the need for personnel to travel regularly into and through each others countries. Soon after NATO was established, one of its first agreements was to describe the status military personnel from one country operating in another. In May 2003, NRC Defence Ministers agreed on the need to conclude a Status of Forces Agreement to facilitate practical military and other cooperation, and negotiations on this landmark step are underway. I could not hope to cover all our work in one article but , hopefully, the range of activities outlined here demonstrates how much the relationship between NATO and Russia has developed. The key ingredient in all these cooperation efforts is people, and the most basic requirement is human interoperability—sharing common ideals and a common understanding. I believe in friendship among individuals. More than ever, I am convinced that, by building closer links and increasing our mutual understanding through intimate co-operation at all levels, from senior staff to troops on the ground, we are progressively creating the conditions by which the vision expressed in the 1997 NATO-Russia Founding Act, “…to build a stable, peaceful and undivided Europe…” can best be realised. .