The Land Component of the new NATO Response Force finalises details in Bétera

The top commanders of the units assigned to the Land Component Command of the new 2016 NATO Response Force (three multinational brigades and the headquarters in charge) met in Bétera (Valencia) to finalise details of the exercise which will take place at the end of the month in Poland and will serve for its final certification.

The host of the meeting was Lt. Gen. Javier Varela, commander of the Spanish Land Headquarters of the NATO Rapid Deployment Corps, which is in charge of the Land Component Command. He was accompanied by Dutch General Cornelis Matthijssen, of the 11th Airmobile Brigade; British Brigadier Bill Wright, of the 1st Armoured Infantry Brigade; and Spanish General Luis Cebrián, of the 7th Brigade ‘Galicia’.

The 7th Brigade contributes the bulk of the troops to the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF), created within the new Response Force at the 2014 Wales Summit. The VJTF is conceived to act as its spearhead, ready to be deployed at short notice wherever it might be needed.

The new force was put to the test during exercise Trident Juncture 2015, carried out simultaneously from 3 October to 6 November at training fields in Italy, Portugal and Spain. Spain was the main host country and the Spanish army, the main actor in terms of both personnel and resources deployed.