ARRC JOURNAL
ENABLING CRISIS RESPONSE:
LESSONS FROM EX NOBLE
JUMP 17
Capt Mark Matthews (GBR-A)
Exercise NOBLE JUMP 17 (NOJP17) tested NATO’s ability to deploy the Land elements of
its Very High Readiness Joint Task Force across Europe to Romania. Although NOJP17
was an exercise, it was a deployment of force conducted in real time, over real terrain and
in the public domain. In doing so, it lay a vital element of NATO’s Graduated Response
Planning at the feet of both the NATO public and its potential adversaries; bringing with it
both risk and rewards for NATO Deterrence and Reassurance messaging.
Deploying military force; with the right
equipment, sustained to fight, in a timely
manner, with the approval of all nations
involved is a hugely complex task. To
organise this, a deploying force would
normally be preceded by logistic enablers
to facilitate the Reception Staging and
Onward Movement (RSOM) process.
Depending on the size of the deployment,
this presence could be as small as a
Company Quartermaster’s Team, or as
large as a Support Brigade. With the
need for the Very High Readiness Joint
Task Force (VJTF) to be light and rapidly
deployable, this traditional deployment
method will not work. Due to deployment
timelines and the need to concentrate
fighting power, the VJTF has no assigned
RSOM units, whilst the rest of the NATO
A convoy on the move during Ex NOBLE JUMP 17
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ALLIED RAPID REACTION CORPS
Response Forces (NRF) are enabled by
the strength of the Joint Logistic Support
Group (JLSG).
To mitigate this, NATO relies heavily on
advanced planning and the extensive use
of Host Nation Support. This approach is
best suited to defending known territories
and not for an Expeditionary Force.
National infrastructure, governmental
agencies and existing routes can all
be pre-identified and used to support
deployment of forces, but theory can
only go so far. Testing this model of
deployment is essential to understand
the strengths and weaknesses of the
concept, and led to the development and
execution of Ex NOJP17. The exercise
saw elements of the VJTF, from seven
nations, deploy from across NATO
territory to the Cincu training area in
Romania.
At its core, NOJP17 involved the
deployment of over 2500 personnel and
five hundred vehicles by road, rail, sea
and air. The RSOM planning for this was
done by the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps
Enabling Command (ARRC EC) as part
of the 2017 NATO Response Force
(Land) JLSG HQ. As a multinational one
star organisation, ARRC EC supported
and augmented by representatives from
NATO Force Integration Units (NFIU),
Troop Contributing Nations (TCNs),
Host, and Transit Nations created the
RSOM plan and delivered the function of
a Theatre Entry Logistic Headquarters.
Having identified that the deployment
of the VJTF falls outside the remit of
the JLSG, HQ ARRC took NOJP17 as
a chance to trial both a high readiness
Theatre Entry capability and the
Advanced JLSG (A-JLSG) concept. The
A-JLSG is formed by a small element of
the JLSG, held at a higher readiness and
A rest and refuel stop at one of the Convoy Support
Centres on Ex NOBLE JUMP 17
made up of personnel with the specific
trade skills and experience required to
enable RSOM. This advance element
was charged with ensuring deployment
of the VJTF but also setting conditions
for the arrival of the NRF follow-on forces
and the remainder of the JLSG.
The plan relied heavily on contracted
and Host Nation support, which created
considerable discomfort for some. To
ease this friction, detailed planning
was conducted to augment the existing
NATO deployment plan and ensure the
right support was in the right place, at
the right time, with the correct diplomatic
clearances and contracts to back them
up. Once the plan was finalised, it was
rehearsed through a Table Top Exercise.
This event was the first time the team
from HQ ARRC met with HQ Multinational
Division South-East (MND-SE). Based in
Bucharest, MND-SE became the lead for
execution as the RSOM HQ. To deliver