Elements Of The NATO Spearhead Command To Be Stationed In Bydgoszcz, Poland

NFIU element which is, according to the information available, to consist out of several NATO forces soldiers among with several soldiers from the host country, is going to be responsible for coordination of exercises and support for the joint defence planning procedures. Should a decision be made to deploy the quick reaction force within the territory of the given state, NFIU is going to undertake operations, aim of which would be to facilitate deployment of further reinforcement units.

NATO Force Integration Units will be stationed in 6 countries of Mid-Eastern Europe: Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Maintaining presence of the command and control system elements for the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) is a part of the arrangements made during the NATO Summit which took place in Newport, back in 2014.

According to the information provided by the Polish Ministry of Defence, the NFIU unit will start its operational activities in April this year. Some earlier reports claim that the first deployment exercise, related to the “Spearhead” itself, is planned to happen in June this year, within the Polish firing ranges. It shall also be recalled that decisions were made to bolster the presence of the Multinational Corps Northeast, which, should a defensive operation be carried out in the region, would play a key role in commanding the allied forces.

NATO had decided to create a brigade-sized quick reaction unit (in a form of the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force), supported by naval, air and special forces, during the NATO Newport summit, as a part of the NATO Response Force reform. Currently so called “temporary spearhead” maintains readiness, and the final structures are going to reach their initial combat readiness by 2016 and full combat readiness by 2017.