NATO Response Force

The NATO Response Force (NRF) is a highly ready and technologically advanced force made up of land, air, sea and special forces components that the Alliance can deploy quickly wherever needed. It is capable of performing missions worldwide across the whole spectrum of operations. These include evacuations, disaster management, counterterrorism, and acting as ‘an initial entry force’ for larger, follow-on forces. Ever since the first Gulf War, the United States has sought to transform NATO’s military forces into high-technology conventional forces with as many interoperable elements as possible. At the same time, NATO has sought to develop additional out-of-area and power-projection capabilities – many again modelled on US capabilities. The NATO Response Force is the symbol of such intention. More broadly, both efforts have reflected the feeling that NATO must find a new, post-Cold War rationale based on new missions and new capabilities to match.

NATO rapid-reaction force gets final green light
November 29, 2006
RIGA, (Reuters) - NATO declared on Wednesday its long-awaited rapid-reaction force was fully ready to take on missions ranging from high-end combat in far-off troublespots to humanitarian relief. The NATO Response Force (NRF), brainchild of former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, will field troops from a pool of up to 25,000 troops at a few days' notice and is the flagship of NATO efforts to revamp itself after the Cold War. The force, announced at a NATO summit in Latvia, will start with troop commitments "very close" to the 25,000 target after last-minute offers of soldiers, helicopters and other equipment from Turkey, the United States, France, Spain and Germany. Read More

NATO's rapid response force faces money crunch, general says
By JACK DORSEY, The Virginian-Pilot, January 24, 2006

NORFOLK ­ NATO’s emerging 25,000-member rapid-response force, designed to deal with dilemmas from natural disasters to failed states, is at risk because it puts too much financial burden on some nations that want to participate, according to its European military leader. Gen. James L. Jones, Supreme Allied Commander Europe, told military representatives from NATO’s 26 member nations meeting here Tuesday that the force, which becomes fully operational Oct. 1, needs a more reliable source of funding. The force “is a good idea, a great vision, and everybody signed up for it,” he said. “But a vision without resources is just a hallucination. You can’t get it.” Read More