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NATO plans to create its new Very High Readiness Joint Task Force VJTF for the end of 2015 2510141

NATO Very High Readiness Joint Task Force

Saturday, October 25, 2014 11:58 AM

NATO plans to create its new Very High Readiness Joint Task Force VJTF for the end of 2015.

NATO would like to create the new Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) with 5,000 troops from an international coalition ready at a moment’s notice to deploy anywhere in the world. Officials from the 28 NATO member countries will spend the next two months in Belgium establishing watch capabilities VJFT will have and where they will be stationed. (Source Armytimes)

Lieutenant General Hodges, Commander of NATO's Land Command

The goal is for the task force to reach initial operational capability in the fall of 2015 and full operational capability in early 2016.

“Think about Ukraine. Think about ISIL. Our president spent months trying to build a coalition. We’ve learned that politically, as well as operationally, it makes more sense to do that. You just get so much more capability,” said U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Frederick Hodges, who relinquished command of NATO Allied Land Command in Izmir, Turkey, on Thursday, Military Times reported.

Five service members from Land Command will spend the next two months in Belgium at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, the headquarters of Allied Command Operations, as the alliance develops the task force.

The new VJTF should have a combination of combat capability but also specialties such as human intelligence collection, information operations and logistics, he said.

It’s also too soon to know where the force will be stationed, or if troops in the force will remain at their home stations but in a ready-to-deploy status.