1-3 Feb 2005

Rehearsing Response Force deployments News 02/02/2005 - IMS Exercise Allied Reach 05 (AR 05) 01/02/2005 - ACT Allied Reach 2005 Begins From 1 to 3 February, NATO commanders are gathering in Norway for exercise Allied Reach 05, which deals with planning, operational and capability issues related to a deployment of the NATO Response Force. During the exercise, which is being held at NATO’s Joint Warfare Centre in Stavanger, the participants will be faced with a simulated scenario that examines how the Response Force (NRF) could be used in a future crisis or conflict. It will focus on the planning, deployability, operational and capability issues that NRF commanders could face during a real deployment. A workshop will then examine the results of the exercise and study the commander’s concerns. NATO’s Response Force was declared operational in October 2004 and currently numbers about 17,000 troops. It combines elite land, air and sea units into a single force that can be deployed anywhere in the world in five days to tackle the full range of military missions. U.S. Marine Corps General James L. Jones, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe will conduct this exercise with the support of Admiral Edmund P. Giambastiani, Supreme Allied Commander, Transformation.