News

After 38 years of service in the United States, NATO Communication Information Services Agency’s (NCSA) Satellite Ground Terminal F-3 (SGT F-3) officially closed its doors for good June 30.

Headquarters, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (HQ SACT) held a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signing ceremony June 24, officially establishing the Counter Improvised Explosive Device Centre of Excellence (C-IED COE), which will be located at the Engineer School Military Base in Hoyo de Manzanares, Madrid.

NATO's New Strategic Concept was the focus of discussion at Allied Command Transformation’s (ACT) Strategic Military Partners Conference (SMPC) in Helsinki, June 14-16.

The recent work developing NATO's New Strategic Concept provided an opportunity for representatives of all NATO, Partnership for Peace (PfP), Mediterranean Dialogue (MD), Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) and Contact Country (CC) Chiefs of Defence (CHOD) attending the event to discuss strategic issues important to NATO and its partners.

ACT made more progress last week on its development of a concept for countering hybrid threats when almost 40 delegates from eight NATO nations, three non-NATO nations, SHAPE, and the JWC met in Ankara, Turkey, June 7-11, for a concept development workshop.

Since July 2009, as a follow up action from the Multiple Futures Project, ACT is developing in coordination with SHAPE a new capstone concept for the military contribution to countering hybrid threats.

Staff members from Allied Command Transformation along with assistance from US JFCOM and the Swiss International Relations and Security Network (ISN) recently completed the 2nd Cooperative Development Team (CDT) training event under ACT leadership. This event, hosted by the Baltic Defence College in Tartu, Estonia had 35 students from NATO and Partner nations as well as NATO institutions.

NATO’s Joint Force Training Centre (JFTC) hosted the ninth Senior Non-Commissioned Officers’ (NCO) Symposium at the JFTC in Bydgoszcz, Poland May 31-June 2.

For the first time since assuming command as Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT), French Air Force General Stephane Abrial went on an official trip to France May 25-27.

Ukrainian Navy Vice Admiral Ihor Kniaz, Defence Attache at the Embassy of Ukraine to the United States, meets with Norwegian Army Major General Kjell-Ove Skare, Assistant Chief of Staff Programme and Planning Management, during his visit to Headquarters, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, May 27.

The first Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Conference for the NATO Modelling and Simulation Centre of Excellence (M&S COE) took place May 4-6, in Rome, Italy.

Participants from Allied Command Transformation (ACT), 15 Nations, and several members of industry and academia came together during the conference to discuss how the COE could be used to benefit NATO and the Nations.

A group of North Atlantic Council (NAC) Permanent Representatives (PermReps) met with French Air Force General Stéphane Abrial, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT), May 13-14 in Norfolk, Virginia.

Artur Kuko of Albania, Igor Pokaz of Croatia, Pascale Andréani of France, Martin Erdmann of Germany, István Kovács of Hungary, and Bogusaw Winid of Poland, began the visit May 13 with dinner and discussions with Abrial.

NATO’s Military Committee Chairman, Italian Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola, chaired two days of meetings with 49 Chiefs of Defence from NATO and Partners nations, and Non-NATO Troop-Contributing countries, to evaluate NATO’s operations, and to discuss transformation, cooperation and reform.

French Air Force General Stephane Abrial, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, signed the memoranda of understanding May 5 for the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Centre of Excellence (EOD CoE) in Trencin, Slovakia.

The memoranda establishes a relationship between Allied Command Transformation (ACT) and the participating nations of Slovak Republic, Czech Republic, France, Hungary and Romania.

Thousands of Hampton Roads residents and tourists headed to downtown Norfolk and Town Point Park May 1, for the Parade of Nations and NATOFest as part of the 57th Norfolk NATO Festival.

The annual Norfolk NATO Festival, the longest running festival in Hampton Roads, honours NATO and its 28 Member Nations and celebrates the presence of the international community in the Hampton Roads area. This year, the festival recognised France as its Most Honoured Nation.

“This is the sixth year I’ve participated in NATOFest,” said Belgium Army 1st Corporal Louis Kros, an Allied Command Transformation (ACT) staff member.  “I think this is a good thing.  It gives us a chance to explain what NATO is all about.  We also like it because we get to introduce Belgium, not only to the U.S., but to the other countries as well.”

The day started with the annual Parade of Nations, which featured a colourful display of floats showcasing each Nations’ unique culture along with local high school and military bands and dancers.

The culmination of the festival week, NATOFest, themed “Explore 28 Nations in a Day,” kicked off at 11 a.m., with a performance by The Tonys, a French music group at the city’s Town Point Park. 

Representatives from each Nation invited guests to explore their country’s culture through traditional costumes, decorations and a sample of some of each country’s most notable foods and beverages including wines and various pastries from France.   Children received a passport and received a stamp from each “country” they visited.

“This is the first NATOFest I’ve been to and I think it’s awesome,” said Laura Delavan, a New York native who has lived in Hampton Roads for the past three years.  “I really like experiencing the different foods and different clothing.  It’s pretty cool to learn about NATO and get a better understanding of these countries.  I think it’s a really great event.”

Throughout the festival, the French military band, La Musique de la Region Terre Nord-Ouest, performed along with a myriad of other French street performers, artists and local entertainers.

Prior to the parade and NATOFest, members of ACT, the only NATO headquarters located outside of Europe, participated in a variety of events with the local community to include a charity golf tournament, a student forum at Norfolk State University with students from five Norfolk high schools, a ceremonial flag raising honouring the 28 NATO Nations and three days of performances of the Virginia International Tattoo.

For more information on the Festival:  Event Detail

On a spring day in Norfolk, Va., staff and guests of Headquarters, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (HQ SACT), celebrated the opening of the 57th Norfolk NATO Festival with a flag raising ceremony April 28, celebrating the festival’s Most Honoured Nation, France, and paying tribute to all 28 NATO Nations.

Allied Command Transformation (ACT) officers and staff met at Sewells Point Golf Course April 22 for a day of fun and friendly golf competition at the NATO Golf Classic.

The golf classic is part of the Norfolk NATO Festival, the longest continuously running festival in the Hampton Roads area, and the only one of its kind in the United States which honours the NATO Alliance and its member nations.

A large fleet of warships, submarines and auxiliary vessels from NATO’s Response Force (NRF) sailed from ports across Europe on 12 April to take part in the key maritime exercise “Brilliant Mariner” in the North and Baltic Seas.

The ships and submarines will take part in integration training that will enable them to respond to operations or crisis situations anywhere in the world if required. The exercise, which will end on 22 April 2010, will be operating in Northern European waters and airspace.

Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, Italian Navy Admiral Luciano Zappata, visited CAE, an aviation and aeronautics company, in Montreal April 13 as part of the engagements with industry to enhance collaboration and interaction.

CAE is a leader in modelling and simulation (M&S), an area where Zappata has had a specific interest during his time at Allied Command Transformation.

French Air Force General Stephane Abrial, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT) visited the NATO Undersea Research Centre (NURC) in La Spezia, Italy, March 17 to familiarise himself with the activities, to get more details of the deliverables of the centre and gain insight into how the centre supports transformation of NATO’s military capabilities.

Allied Command Transformation (ACT) and the National Defense University (NDU) co-hosted the fourth seminar on NATO's New Strategic Concept in Washington D.C., Feb. 21-23.

The event marked the final seminar for the Group of Experts who were commissioned by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and tasked with advising the Alliance on the New Strategic Concept.

ACT Public Affairs Office,Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, General Stéphane Abrial, addresses the audience at the fourth Strategic Concept Seminar on Transformation and Capabilities at the National Defence University, Washington DC.