As anticipated in this March article, NRDC-ITA, commanded by the General C.A. Parachutist Lorenzo D'Addarioofficially took over the leadership of theAllied Reaction Force (ARF) for the next three years. The inauguration ceremony was held at the NRDC-ITA headquarters in Solbiate Olona. Present were the General Christopher G. Cabbages, Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe (SACEUR), and the Chief of Staff of the Italian Army, General C.A. Parachutist Carmine Masiello.
The event was attended by the Commanders of the NATO units that will make up the ARF, in particular the 1 UK Divisionof the ESP JSOC (Joint Special Operations Command), of the ESP JFAC (Joint Force Air Component) of the CFSpCC (Combined Force Space Component Commander), by ITMARFOR (Italian Maritime Forces) and of SOFCOM (Allied Special Operations Forces Command), which in a multi-national and multi-domain framework will support the Alliance in fulfilling its three main tasks: deterrence and defence, crisis prevention and management, and cooperative security.
During the ceremony, General Cavoli praised the work of the civilian and military personnel in setting up the ARF Command, emphasising the importance of the new role. General Masiello highlighted the professional and human qualities needed to deal with the current international security situation.
NRDC-ITA, in its role as ARF, provides SACEUR with an immediate crisis response capability. With this in mind, it has carried out a series of activities including exercises, academic studies and specific trainings that culminated last May in the Steadfast Deterrence 24 exercise, in which it received formal validation. Further exercises will be carried out in Europe at the end of 2024 and in both 2025 and 2026.ARF is a completely new concept, resulting from a decision at political level taken at the 2023 Vilnius NATO summit to enable SACEUR to have readily deployable forces (in all domains), to achieve results more immediately than in the past and to provide an effective response to possible crisis situations in all types of operations.
The leadership of the ARF by NRDC-ITA confirms Italy's commitment to the Alliance and the defence of the Euro-Atlantic area. NRDC-ITA, with operational headquarters in Solbiate Olona and institutional headquarters in Milan, is a multinational command composed of Italian personnel for the 75% and military personnel from 19 other nations for the 25%. Since 1 October 2016, NRDC-ITA has been under the direct command of the Army Chief of Staff.
