Defense Technology International - January/February 2008 - (Page 24) DISPATCHES GLOBAL FLOATING COMMAND Seaborne battle staffs direct joint crisis-response capabilities JORIS JANSSEN LOK•ON BOARD HRMS JOHAN DE WITT T he littoral waters of the Adriatic witnessed a major naval confrontation in October. For several days, two forces maneuvered at close quarters in the narrow sea, assessing each other’s intentions, ready to open fire on command. The conflict ended peacefully; neither side, in fact, was ever in danger. The confrontation, called Noble Midas 07, was not between enemies, but a test of NATO’s efforts to transform its armed forces into a combined/joint crisis-response team that can deploy anywhere in the world. European navies are developing seaborne battle sta s at one- and even two-star levels, which are capable of planning and running combined/joint (multinational and multi-service) global expeditionary operations from the sea. The sta s can do this independently, but are set up to be interoperable within international command and control structures, like those of NATO, the European Union or a coalition force. A one-star level is led by an o cer of the commodore or brigadier general rank directing up to 10,000 personnel. A twostar level involves a rear admiral or major general leading up to 20,000 personnel. The maritime battle staffs operate from high-tech ships that bristle with command, control, communications, computers and intelligence (C4I) systems, and elaborate joint operations centers (JOC). The staffs and their headquarters ships are, consequently, vital enablers of expeditionary crisisresponse operations. Examples of high-readiness command entities are in France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the U.K. Each is designated Marfor, for Maritime Force. The largest of the two multinational forces exercising in the Adriatic was led by the French Marfor, created in 2004 to lead the maritime component of the NATO Response Force (NRF). Rear Adm. Alain Hinden is at the helm of the French Marfor headquarters. On Jan. 1, French Marfor assumed the role of NRF Maritime Component Commander as part of the NRF 10 rotation that is on standby for immediate deployment during the first half of 2008. The land component of NRF 10 is led by the German/Netherlands Corps, while NATO’s Air Component Command South, in Izmir, Turkey, provides sta for the air component. French Marfor led the amphibious task group within NRF 8 early last year after being certified to lead NATO maritime missions in 2006. It prepared for NRF 10 command by leading the Noble Midas exercise that qualified the assets committed by NATO for NRF 10 rotation. The French battle sta directed a multinational task force from the new €300-million ($445-million) amphibious assault helicopter carrier Tonnerre, built by DCNS. The 21,600-ton vessel, with sister ship Mistral, is also a landing platform dock (LPD) and hospital, as well as headquarters of a combined/joint task group. Ten NATO countries took part in Noble Midas 07, which involved 40 ships, including the aircraft carriers Garibaldi (Italy) and Illustrious (U.K.), two submarines, several squadrons of fixedwing aircraft and 22 helicopters. The 8,400-personnel operation was hosted by Croatia, which plans to join NATO in April, and included contributions from new members Bulgaria and Romania, and NATO partner Albania. The sea, land and air components of ROYAL NETHERLANDS NAVY Dutch navy LPD Johan de Witt is designed for sea-based command and control operations with the Netherlands Maritime Force. 24 DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008 www.aviationweek.com/dti http://www.aviationweek.com/dti
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