MAGAZINE
SPRING 2020
IZMIR , Turkey – NATO Allied Land Command hosted the first ever Partner Land Commanders ’ Conference Tuesday , November 26 , 2019 , emulating similar partner events by NATO ’ s Allied Air Command and Maritime Command among others .
The event , chaired by LANDCOM Deputy Commander , British Army Lieutenant General Richard Cripwell on behalf of LANDCOM Commander , U . S . Army Lieutenant General J . T . Thomson , was attended by 16 of the 24 NATO Partnership Interoperability Initiative Nations .
With 16 general officers totalling 26 stars present at the conference it was an incredibly high level event , with a number of nations represented by their Land Commanders . The participants met during an icebreaker event the evening before the conference began , providing an opportunity for an informal greeting before the main briefings and discussions began the following day .
Lieutenant General Cripwell opened the conference recalling the unity and cohesion he witnessed the night prior during their informal gathering .
“ Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules and I look forward to your contributions ,” he said from the podium in the historic theatre building in LANDCOM ’ s Izmir compound . “ If it is anything like last night ’ s icebreaker , I can only assume we will generate some noise , and genuine warmth !”
Interoperability with NATO allows for Partner nations to develop a cohesive relationship in order to enable the sharing of knowledge that does not exist in other nations .
The theme for the conference was Interoperability in the Land Domain and included a number of guest speakers from the various partner nations and across the NATO Alliance . One conference objective was to increase partner awareness of the opportunities to work with NATO to fill capability gaps in both the Alliance and well as in Partner nations . This leads to increased interoperability .
1 ST PARTNER LAND COMMANDERS CONFERENCE
“ NATO defines interoperability as ‘ The ability to act together coherently , effectively and efficiently to achieve tactical , operational and strategic objectives . No distinction is made between partners and members of NATO .”
“ NATO defines interoperability as ‘ The ability to act together coherently , effectively and efficiently to achieve tactical , operational and strategic objectives .’ No distinction is made between Partners and members of NATO ,” said Turkish Army Colonel Hakan Demirel , LANDCOM Assistant Chief of Staff for G7 .
There were a number of guest speakers at the event including Lieutenant General Dennis Gyllenspǿrre , the Commander of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali ( MINUSMA ). He spoke about the advantages the mission has thanks to the multitude of national contributions and also its challenges .
“ MINUSMA is a truly multinational mission with 57 countries involved ,” he said . This brings together a lot of skills and experience , which is a strength , but also a counter strength as you have to ensure the right level of trust exists within the unit . The cultural mindset can be a challenge , as the understanding of a peace keeping can be different between nations .”
Jonathan Parish , NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Operations , briefed the audience on the new One Partner One Plan initiative being developed at NATO headquarters . The initiative will allow for NATO to develop mutually agreed objectives with each partner nation and then align them with NATO objectives .
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By Lieutenant Jonathan BATEMAN , British Army , LANDCOM PAO
One Partner , one plan will lead to improvements in interoperability in the land domain , and I am confident that the future of land forces interoperability with you , is in good hands .”
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