NATO Command Structure

The following document outlines the basic military command structure of NATO and its subordinate command elements. This is not to be considered a fully accurate , up-to-the-minute report, however, as changes in assignments could be made at any time without warning for general security reasons. These changes will be made known to senior US and NATO commanders only.

Membership

NATO members are: the US, Canada, UK, Norway, France, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Norway, Iceland, Poland, Turkey and Greece.

France and Sweden do not contribute forces to NATO command, opting instead to control its own defenses (though in conjunction with NATO operations).

Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania, while all NATO-aligned, are still negotiating their terms of acceptance and control their forces independently, though in cooperation with NATO high command.

Doctrine

NATO leadership is split between two factions: the Atlantic Alliance (AA), which consists of the US, Canada, the UK and Norway, and the Western European Union (WEU) which encompasses most of continental Europe. These two factions represent two very different military doctrines. The AA believes in containing threats through power projection, preemptive and punitive strikes and vigilant surveillance and "peacekeeping missions" throughout the Mediterranean, the Balkans and Middle East to prevent crises from erupting in the early stages into full-blown wars. The WEU, on the other hand, whose military budgets are far more constrained, tend to be more isolationist-minded, preferring instead to focus only on the areas within the immediate vicinity of central and eastern Europe and to let the AA take care of extra-regional disruptions.

NATO Headquarters (SHAPE)

NATO headquarters is called the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers, Europe, or SHAPE, which is now located in Brussels, Belgium. SHAPE contains both military and civilian liasons to help facilitate approval of NATO deployments of multi-national forces.

NATO Commander (SACEUR)

The top military commander is the Supreme Allied Commander, Europe (SACEUR). He is a US 4-star general who also reports to the US Joint Chiefs of Staff as the commander-in-chief of all US forces in Europe. It is the responsibility of SACEUR to recommend deployments for all NATO forces in response to any perceived threats to NATO security. These recommendations must be approved by SHAPE before being executed.

(GM's note: For game purposes, SACLANT, the western Atlantic command of NATO, has been subsumed by US Atlantic Command, or CINCLANT.)

Generally speaking, the Atlantic Alliance (AA) faction of SHAPE will most likely approve the deployment of units to any area within NATO's jurisdiction as long as those units are available and are not needed by their home country. WEU nations, on the other hand, tend to only approve deployments that involve conflicts close to their own borders, pariticularly in central and eastern Europe.

Subordinate Commands

Allied Forces, Northwest Europe (AFNORTH)

Area of Responsibility: Western Europe, the UK, Iceland, Norway and adjoining seas. (AA)

Allied Forces, Central Europe (AFCENT)

Area of Responsibility: Central Europe and the Baltic. (US, WEU)

Allied Forces, Southern Europe (AFSOUTH)

Area of Responsibility: Italy, the Balkan republics, the Mediterranean and Middle East. (US, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Greece)

Each of these regional commands controls a joint force of multi-national land, sea and air units -- usually at the corps, naval task force and air wing levels. While these forces are currently fully operational, it may take several weeks or more to redeploy them to new front-line positons. This may be unacceptable in a crisis situation that requires limited but immediate action. Hence, the need for smaller units which can respond more quickly.

Immediate Reaction Forces

ACE Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC)

The Allied Command Europe Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) was formed to provide a responsive ground force that can be activated and deployed to a troubled region in a minimal amount of time. It is comprised of a number of divisions and aviation support units from various member nations for the purpose of immediate intra-theater deployment. These divisions are distributed among the three regional commands but can be redistributed as necessary. Typical response time for any one ARRC division, assuming deployment is within the European theater, is three to six weeks. Emergency allocations of airlift support, if available, can lessen this response time even more.

The Headquarters of the ARRC is multinational. It is located in Rheindahlen, Germany. The Headquarters of the ARRC and the two Multinational Divisions are under command and control of the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) in peacetime, but the remaining divisions and units come under SACEUR's operational control after being deployed. The commander of the ARRC is a British three-star general.

Rapid Response Units

In addition to the ARRC divisions, each regional command also has a number of battalions and brigades which are ready and trained to deploy at a moment's notice. While these units do not have much staying power, they can be useful for setting up a first line of defense or to act as a delaying force until one of the ARRC divisions can arrive. Typical response time is 1 to 3 days for destinations within the North Atlantic/European/Mediterranean theater, or as little as a few hours if the unit is already in the general area of conflict.

Special Task Forces

Land

SACEUR may create any type of task force made up of units from one or more regional commands for the purpose of maintaining the peace in a particularly "hot" region. The most well-known task forces of the last decade were the peacekeeping task forces in Bosnia, IFOR and KFOR, both of which have been stripped down to minimal sizes today. Deployments of ground forces to a non-NATO countriy will require either an invitation from that country or a UN mandate, as well as approval from SHAPE. Task forces can be small or large and can be custom-adapted to meet the kind of threat that is expected in the reagion. Large, multi-national task forces will probably take longer to get approved through SHAPE but may prove to be the strongest deterrent possible against future attacks.

Naval

There are two standing naval task forces under NATO control:

STANFORNAVLANT -- A seven-to-ten ship squadron of destroyers and frigates that patrol continuously between the eastern and western Atlantic and occasionlly to other regions. This squadron is attached directly to SACEUR but is usually placed under the operational control of AFNORTH.

STANFORNAVMED -- A similar squadron, operating in the Mediterranean. This squadron is generally placed under the operational control of AFSOUTH.

Air

A standing strike package consisting of airforce or naval aviation units may be assembled at any time either for the purpose of a single mission or on a rotating basis. These packages are on-call any minute of the day but expensive to maintain for long periods, however. Nations with limited air resources will be likely not participate in such a task force unless it is to directly defend a region near its borders.

To transfer an air task force to a base in a non-NATO country will require either an invitation from that country or a UN mandate.

END REPORT.