“Our Goal Is to Maintain the Arctic as a Stable Place”
The Commander of JFC Norfolk, Vice Admiral Doug Perry (to the left), and the Chief of the Norwegian Joint Headquarters, Vice Admiral Rune Andersen. The visit to NJHQ at Reitan took place in connection with JFC Norfolk's 'Warfighting talks," which included discussions about the operational growth of the Norfolk-command. (Photo: Hilde Bye).
Reitan (High North News): Norway and the Nordic region are about to be placed under NATO's Joint Force Command Norfolk in the US. Its establishment in 2019 was a response to a resurgent Russia operating in the Arctic and the North Atlantic. "Events since have only reinforced and validated the decision to establish the command," says the JFC Norfolk commander.
Personnel from the Joint Force Command Norfolk in the US, spearheaded by Commander and Vice Admiral Doug Perry, visited the Norwegian Joint Headquarters (NJHQ) at Reitan outside of Bodø this week.
There, JFC Norfolk hosted its "Warfighting Talks", conversations focused on the continued development of the command, which is NATO's newest operational headquarters.
JFC Norfolk was declared fully operational in 2020 and has the North Atlantic and the Arctic as its areas of responsibility. The command's mission is a.o. to secure the lines of communications between North America and Europe. The plan is for both Norway and the other Nordic countries to be placed under this headquarters.
In the meantime, work is underway to further build up and finalize the command.
At the NJHQ at Reitan, several officers from nations within the JFC Norfolk's area of responsibility participated in discussions about the command's operational growth. The aim is to ensure that the countries work toward the same direction, with synchronised plans and activities, among other things.
JFC Norfolk is still under development and is rapidly growing. According to Vice Admiral Perry, the number of employees at the command will be tripled by the end of next year compared to 2025. Norway has the highest number of personnel of the countries part of the command, says Perry. (Photo: Hilde Bye)
Will support JFC Norfolk
"We have worked on building relationships with all of the nations that will support JFC Norfolk here in the North," said Vice Admiral Doug Perry to High North News about the meeting that took place on Wednesday.
"Most important was aligning the individual nations' home defense plans with our NATO plan; which is 'my' regional plan northwest. More work needs to be done, but we have aligned how we will work going forward," stated the US Vice Admiral.
According to JFC Norfolk, this contributes to strengthening the trans-Atlantic bonds and the ability to deliver on NATO's core tasks "from Florida to Finnmark, from seabed to space."
The Chief of the Norwegian Joint Headquarters, Vice Admiral Rune Andersen, specified that the interaction between the nations and NATO headquarters is key to success.
"We have to deliver plans and activities in our region to support what Vice Admiral Perry and JFC Norfolk will achieve, what NATO needs to achieve," he said to HNN.
"Norway has a particular responsibility to surveil and control the activity in the High North and feed this into the NATO system. This is an important contribution of everyday life, so that NATO understands what is happening in the North. We naturally have the best expertise in this field, given our location and the fact that we have been following the High North for years," Andersen adds.
We have come far within the Nordic framework, and it contributes to support JFC Norfolk's work.
Nordic coordination
Andersen also highlights the coordination on the Nordic level after Sweden and Finland joined NATO as another important example.
"The aim of what we have done in the Nordic framework in recent years is to coordinate, precisely to support JFC Norfolk Commander's work," he said.
"Much of the work we have done is about how we will operate across Nordic borders, how to use the base structure, infrastructure, and support each other in the Nordic region, so the plan is credible. We have come far within the Nordic framework, and it contributes to making JFC Norfolk's work easier."
Nordic Chiefs of Defense at the signing of the agreement on a joint defense concept for the region in the fall of 2024. This is to synchronize the countries' defense plans and facilitate more joint military exercises and training, force reinforcement, and joint operations, among other things. (Photo: the Danish Armed Forces)
What is the significance of Norway being placed under JFC Norfolk?
"Strengthening NATO's ability to lead the defense of this region has been an important priority for Norway since the NATO summit in Warsaw in 2016. This is materializing through the headquarters led by Vice Admiral Doug Perry," answered Andersen and continued:
"This is important to Norway and is about strengthening the ability to lead operations across the Atlantic and in the maritime area we live in. It was necessary to revitalize this ability to lead operations after many years of downsizing in NATO's command structure after the Cold War."
A response to Russian activity
The development of JFC Norfolk is part of a larger NATO process toward a new command structure. This is about NATO's backbone; the permanent, multinational headquarters that exercises command at strategic, operational, and node levels, and that are geographically dispersed across the alliance.
The establishment of NATO's third Combined Air Operations Center, recently revealed to be permanently located at Reitan, Northern Norway, is part of this process.
The new command structure being developed is designed to address the challenges and threats faced by the alliance.
Vice Admiral Perry said this includes the war in Ukraine, hybrid operations, and malicious cyber activity against NATO countries, and the threat that Russia poses against peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area.
JFC Norfolk was established in the US state of Virginia in 2019 and is tasked with protecting the strategic communications lines across the Atlantic and enabling the reinforcement of Europe.
The establishment was primarily a response to resurgent Russia operating in the Atlantic and the Arctic, stated Vice Admiral Perry.
"Events since have only reinforced and validated the decision to establish the command," he added.
The American Vice Admiral Doug Perry is the Commander of NATO's newest operational headquarters, JFC Norfolk. The command is described as central to security in the High North and the Atlantic, and it has a particular maritime dimension. The commander of JFC Norfolk is also the commander of the US Second Fleet, which has area responsibility in the Atlantic and the Arctic. (Photo: Hilde-Gunn Bye).
More activity in the Arctic
"Our role is to deter, or defeat, potential adversaries if we go into crisis or conflict. We work on this on a day-to-day basis by coordinating activities and operations in the Arctic and the Atlantic," he continued.
"By coordinating activities, we can exercise and demonstrate how capable we are, but also understand where we have shortcomings, and then create an exercise plan to improve in those areas."
Perry also envisions more exercise in the High North and the North Atlantic in the future.
"We project more [exercise activity, ed. note] in the future, given the changing operational environment, such as the warming seas, as well as the potential threats we see here in the Arctic. Our goal is to maintain the Arctic as a stable domain, so that potential adversaries do not see any vulnerabilities here."
NATO air operations center to Bodø
Last, but not least, both Perry and Andersen agree on the significance of establishing NATO's third Combined Air Operations Center in Norway.
"This command and control node makes us stronger as an alliance," Perry pointed out.
"In the face of potential threats in the Arctic, it is essential to be able to have domain awareness across the High North and the GIUK Gap (the ocean area between Greenland, Iceland, and the northern part of the UK). The location here in Norway is excellent, with a greater understanding of this domain and what it takes to operate here."
The Chief of the Norwegian Joint Headquarters emphasized the importance of NATO enhancing its ability to conduct concurrent air operations across the entirety of NATO's territory.
"Therefore, we had to have a third CAOC. This provides both capacity and increased redundancy in this command chain. It is good that it will be located here in Bodø. Here, we have a management environment for military operations that fits well together and can benefit from each other's expertise, "he concluded.
