Meeting the Enhanced NATO Response Force (ENRF) readwiness requirement
MEETING THE
ENHANCED NATO
RESPONSE FORCE
(ENRF) READINESS
REQUIREMENT
– addressing the logistic
challenges identified during
Exercise ARRCADE FUSION 15
Major Tom Fortune, British
Army
Introduction
The NATO Wales Summit in September 2014
announced an enhanced NATO Response
Force (ENRF), spearheaded by the Very High
Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF). The VJTF
(Land) is a major development of NATO’s ability
to rapidly deploy a multinational brigade sized
force anywhere in Europe. It has brought a
host of logistic challenges that have been ad-
dressed to meet the deployment timelines set
out in the Readiness Action Plan (RAP).
The new ENRF concept
The 2014 crisis in Ukraine demonstrated the
speed at which threats to NATO’ s eastern
flank could develop, and the shortfalls of exist-
ing NATO response forces to meet that threat
in time. NRF Notice to Move (NTM) timelines
had units ready to deploy to a set deadline,
often measured in weeks. It was agreed that
this did not give NATO forces time to react to
fast moving events. To rectify this, the ENRF is
focused on getting forces to the right place to
meet mission requirements more quickly. For
the lead units, this time is measured in days.
This gives NATO a truly rapid response option
and a clear picture of when forces will be ready
to conduct missions.
The Port of Klaipeda during Exercise ARRCADE FUSION 15
once a deployment was required. The latest
ENRF timelines require all of these issues to
be pre-arranged. As the GBR-led VJTF bri-
gade for 2017 is comprised of units from 14
different nations this has required considera-
ble coordination for a successful deployment.
Although the existing NATO Multinational De-
tailed Deployment Plan process is designed
to deconflict national deployments, nations
cannot focus on their own piece of the plan.
Strategic movement across transit countries
and host nation facilitated RSOM must now be
To be a credible deterrent, the ENRF must
demonstrate it can meet this new deployment
concept. The previous NRF had the luxury of
enough notice to arrange Strategic Deploy-
ment including Reception, Staging and On-
wards Movement (RSOM), and Logistic Support
The Port of Klaipeda during Exercise ARRCADE FUSION 15
pre-planned and coordinated across all send-
ing nations to ensure that the force elements
arrive in the right order, and can be matched
up into cohesive units ready to conduct mis-
sions. Work on this for VJTF for 2017 is now
well underway.
Exercise ARRCADE FUSION 15 (Ex AF15) was
used as a test bed to trial several RAP con-
cepts, and saw HQ ARRC, its Enabling Com-
mand (EC) and a number of subordinate units
deploying to the Baltic States in late 2015. Prior
to this, the EC ran a number of training events
“We will significantly enhance the responsiveness
of our NRF by developing force packages that are
able to move rapidly … a new Allied Joint Force that
will be able to deploy within a few days to respond to
challenges that arise, particularly at the periphery
of NATO’s territory.”
Wales Summit Declaration, NATO Press Release, September 5, 2014
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