NATO ENSEC COE is getting involved in NATO individual and collective training

On February 20, Dr. Arunas Molis, Head of NATO ENSEC COE’s Strategic Analysis and Research division, participated in Steadfast Jazz 2013 MEL/MIL Strategy Workshop held at the Joint Warfare Center (JWC) in Stavanger, Norway. The main purpose of the NATO ENSEC COE’s visit to JWC was to learn of exercise planning progress and become directly involved through the proposal of operational energy security elements. Although NATO ENSEC COE joined the planning team at the end of the process, proposals to incorporate elements of operational energy security, military energy efficiency and critical energy infrastructure protection both into the exercise scenario and MEL/MIL list were positively received by exercise planners.

 NATO ENSEC COE’s contribution to SFJZ 2013 is an important achievement but not its first experience with military exercise planning. In cooperation with the Lithuanian armed forces in August 2012, NATO ENSEC COE conducted CPX - ENERGEX 2012, a two part exercise and educational conference to provide military planners the opportunity to work closely with industry and academia in addressing energy supply and production challenges in deployed operations. NATO ENSEC COE also works with ACT to develop individual training and educational elements in the area of energy security. Two such examples are the upcoming joint Training Landscape Development Conference scheduled for September 10-11 in Vilnius, which will identify operational training requirements, as well as a collective defence exercise planned for autumn 2013 in Poland and the Baltic States to certify command and control elements of NATO Response Force 2014.  All these efforts contribute to the Centre’s ambition to become an operational energy security training and education hub within NATO.

 Planning for SFJZ13 began as early as April 2012 with the Exercise Specification Conference, followed by the 2012 Initial Planning Conference in JFC Brunssum, and the Main Planning Conference (MPC) held at the Static War Headquarters, Castlegate, Germany from January 22-24, 2013.