ARRC JOURNAL
NEAR REAL-WORLD PLANNING – TURNING WALES AND WARSAW SUMMITS INTO REALITY
Col Richard Clements ( GBR-A )
In early 2017 , Headquarters Allied Rapid Reaction Corps ( HQ ARRC ), whilst stood by as the NATO Response Force ( NRF ) Land Component Command ( LCC ) Headquarters , undertook a period of crisis response planning ( CRP ) in preparation for Exercise NOBLE JUMP 2 ( Ex NOJP2 ). Ex NOJP2 was a readiness and deployment exercise , in which elements of HQ ARRC and the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force ( Land ) ( VJTF ( L )) 1 brigade deployed to another NATO Alliance Country .
HQ ARRC ’ s planning was the first of its kind by a High Readiness Force ( Land ) Headquarters as it was based on a modified real world regional Graduated Response Plan ( GRP ). This enabled HQ ARRC to develop a LCC Operation Order ( OPORD ), replicating what would occur for real should that GRP be activated . As such , it was the first time that a GRP had been subject to notable scrutiny , and the first time that it had been used to plan for real troops deploying to the region ; albeit in a planned exercise using
Romanian troops assigned to NATO ’ s Multinational Division Southeast conduct a live fire exercise in the Cincu Training Area in Romania during Exercise Noble Jump 2017
a scenario . This short article aims to highlight some of the lessons identified during CRP , in particular : the value of near-real world planning ; the challenges faced when writing GRPs with sufficient detail to be executable rapidly , whilst also being sufficiently generic to cater for numerous potential eventualities ; the complexities of rapid deployment planning and the potential value of incremental deployments .
Value of Near-Real World Planning with Host Nation and Key Staff
The first significant lesson was the value of using near-real world or realworld plans . This lesson had previously been identified during 2015 , when HQ ARRC planned and deployed to the Baltics . ARRC ’ s lessons from 2015 were incorporated into the development of the GRP for that region . Whilst NATO policy is not to exercise real world plans , a small amount of revision of these plans - to de-sensitise them and build in a nearreal world scenario - enables significant training value to be gained . Members of the planning staff at HQ ARRC were able to develop a great understanding of the detail in the real-world GRP , undertake detailed branch level analysis and understand the implications of the geography , regional dynamics and Host Nations ’ ( HN ) capabilities . This experience will be invaluable if the realworld GRP is to be activated at any stage whilst enhancing the value of ARRC ’ s readiness training and professional development . Another lesson confirmed was the immense value of HN liaison officers and NATO Force Integration
Unit ( NFIU ) staff . NFIUs are relatively new NATO staff capabilities in HNs ; not only do they provide an immediate link between NATO forces and HQs with HNs forces and HQs , but they are critical in early enablement of NATO forces .
Inconsistencies in GRPs
Unsurprisingly , planning also identified inconsistencies between and within the levels of GRPs , which can only be found when testing the plans thoroughly through execution , albeit in a training context . GRPs are constructed with plans at the strategic , operational and tactical ( component ) levels . Whilst developed collaboratively , these plans are complex and detailed and it is challenging to achieve perfection . Consequently , some of the details contained in the plans were inconsistent between the different levels of plans , while others were inconsistent within a plan . For example , some plans talked of ‘ X ’ days of supply ( DOS ), whilst others articulated ‘ Y ’ DOS ; indeed one plan talked of ‘ X ’ in the main body and ‘ Y ’ in the annexes . Whilst seemingly trivial , such detail becomes important in the timely execution of plans and can now be corrected .
Command and control
Command and control ( C2 ) is a persistent challenge in an Alliance context . C2
1 The VJTF ( L ) is a brigade sized force conceived at the Wales Summit in 2014 and now in its second year of combat effectiveness .
10 ALLIED RAPID REACTION CORPS