Exercising MJO +:
LIBERATING BODØ of BODO
By LCdr Brian Trager ( CAN ), MAJ Pawel Oszytko ( POL ), LAND- COM
It has been more than two hundred days since the NATO Alliance declared their intention to counter the Federation of Skolkan ( FoS ) aggression into Norway ’ s Northern Districts of Finnmark , Troms and Nordland . The Spanish Corps , NATO Rapid Deployable Corps Espanol ( NRDC- ESP ), one of five GRF ( L ) s assigned to the Land Component Command ( LCC ), in combination with the Maritime Component Command ( MCC ) is poised to execute an amphibious and ground assault on Bodø .
The town of Bodø with joint logistical infrastructure such as sea , air and land transport installations has been identified as a future key NATO logistical hub . A new logistics hub is required to continue one of the Alliance ’ s primary objectives ; the NATO Alliance ’ s goal is to liberate northern Norway from the Federation of Skolkan ( FoS ) Forces and restore the integrity of the Norwegian border . The short notice joint operation into Bodø has effec- tively caught the enemy by surprise and forced them to withdrawal northwards to previously established defensive positions further north in the vicinity of Narvik . An alliance victory in Bodø seemed imminent ; however , was the logistical infrastructure identified by NATO planners still intact and operational to act as a new forward logistics hub ?
The Scenario
The Bodø amphibious / ground operation scenario was a key master event activity that occurred in a NATO Major Joint Operation Plus ( MJO +) exercise , LAND- COM ’ s largest training event to date . It was a NATO Command Structure ( NCS ) certification event for Joint Force Command Brunssum ( JTF-NE ), MARCOM ( MCC ) and LANDCOM ( LCC ) as the primary training audience ( PTA ) and SHAPE and AIRCOM ( ACC ) also participated as a secondary training audience ( STA ). The Joint Warfare Centre in Stavanger , Norway hosted the Command Post / Computer Assisted exercise and was supported by substantial augmentation from other NCS , NATO Force Structure ( NFS ) and contracted per- sonnel . The exercise also coincided during the same timeframe as the Norwegian National Exercise highlighting numerous interoperability and coordination issues . It highlighted to participating NATO training audiences , vast complex infrastructure challenges that can arise while conducting Joint Operations in an Article 5 mission , especially in an infrastructure dependant country such as Norway .
The exercise scenario forced NATO to confront a near peer adversary with similar numbers of forces and capabilities . The FoS successfully invaded a significant part of northern Norway and in addition , threatened numerous other countries of the NATO Alliance , to include ; the three Baltics states , Denmark , Germany and Poland . A priority LANDCOM objective was to force the withdrawal of FoS Military Forces from northern Norway . However , with most northern Norwegian ports in FoS control and limited available NATO land mobility corridors , it was determined that NATO forces needed a closer Seaport and Airport of Disembarkation ( SPOD / APOD ) to support the creation of a new Theatre Logistic Brigade ( TLB ) base located much
8 LAND POWER