Allied Rapid Reaction Corps

The Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, (ARRC) is a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation High Readiness Force (Land) Headquarters ready for deployment worldwide within five to thirty days.

History

The ARRC was created on 2 October 1992 in Bielefeld based on the former British I Corps (or I (BR) Corps). It was originally created as the rapid reaction corps sized land force of the Reaction Forces Concept that emerged after the end of the Cold War, with a mission to redeploy and reinforce within Allied Command Europe (ACE) and to conduct Petersberg missions out of NATO territory. The first commander, appointed in 1992 was General Sir Jeremy Mackenzie.

From 1994 the ARRC was based in the Rheindahlen Military Complex, Germany. It commanded the Land Forces of NATO's first ever deployment as part of the IFOR operation in Bosnia in 1995/6 and was again deployed as the headquarters commanding Land Forces during the Kosovo War in 1999.

Since 2002 however the HQ has been re-roled (with five other corps HQs of other NATO nations) as a High Readiness Force (Land) HQ (HRF(L)) with a broader mission. The formation HQ is under Operational Command of Supreme Allied Commander, Europe (SACEUR). The ARRC has a national Force Pool of Combat, Combat Support and Combat Service Support units with which to train and execute its mission. However, in reality COMARRC commands no forces until he receives an Activation Order from SACEUR. On receipt of ACTORD, forces from troop contributing nations, generated through the NATO Force Generation process are passed into his Operational Command for the duration of the operational deployment.

Lieutenant general

Lieutenant general, lieutenant-general and similar (abbrev Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a captain general.

In modern armies, lieutenant general normally ranks immediately below general and above major general; it is equivalent to the navy rank of vice admiral, and in air forces with a separate rank structure, it is equivalent to air marshal. A lieutenant general commands an army corps, made up of typically three army divisions, and consisting of around 60,000–70,000 soldiers (U.S.).

The seeming incongruity that a lieutenant general outranks a major general (whereas a major outranks a lieutenant) is due to the derivation of the latter rank from sergeant major general, which was also subordinate to lieutenant general. In some countries (e.g. France and Italy), the ranks of corps general or lieutenant colonel general are used instead of lieutenant general, in an attempt to solve this apparent anomaly – these ranks are often translated into English as lieutenant general.

NATO

Coordinates: 50°52′34″N 4°25′19″E / 50.87611°N 4.42194°E / 50.87611; 4.42194

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO /ˈneɪtoʊ/; French: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique Nord; OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party. NATO's headquarters are located in Haren, Brussels, Belgium, where the Supreme Allied Commander also resides. Belgium is one of the 28 member states across North America and Europe, the newest of which, Albania and Croatia, joined in April 2009. An additional 22 countries participate in NATO's Partnership for Peace program, with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programmes. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70 percent of the global total. Members' defense spending is supposed to amount to 2 percent of GDP.

Supreme Allied Commander

Supreme Allied Commander is the title held by the most senior commander within certain multinational military alliances. It originated as a term used by the Western Allies during World War II, and is currently used only within NATO.

World War II

During World War II, the Allied leaders saw fit to appoint a Supreme Allied Commander to manage the multi-nation, multi-discipline fighting forces for a particular theatre of war. These Supreme Allied Commanders were given operational control over all air, land, and sea units in that theatre.

These Supreme Allied Commanders – in some cases called Commander-in-Chief – were drawn from the most senior leaders in the British Armed Forces and United States Armed Forces. These commanders reported to the British/American Combined Chiefs of Staff, although in the case of the Pacific and South East Asia, the relevant national command authorities of the American Joint Chiefs of Staff or the British Chiefs of Staff Committee had responsibility for the main conduct of the war in the theatre, depending on the Supreme Commander's nationality.

NATO Response Force

The NATO Response Force (NRF) is a high readiness and technologically advanced force comprising land, air, sea, and special forces units capable of being deployed quickly on operations wherever needed.

Background

The purpose of the NRF is to provide a quick reaction force of high quality to support NATO missions as required. The concept of NRF was first endorsed with a declaration of NATO's Heads of State at the Prague Summit on 22 November 2002. It was then approved by NATO Defence Ministers in June 2003, and the first headquarters created in October 2003 in Italy under command of NATO Joint Force Command in Brunssum, Netherlands, designated NRF 1. Its rotation replacement was designated NRF 2 (2004) at the same time.

Rotating forces through the NRF requires nations to meet the demanding standards needed for collective defence and expeditionary operations. As the standards are very high, participation in the NRF is preceded by a six-month NATO exercise program in order to integrate and standardize the various national contingents. Generally, nations carry out a pre-training period in preparation for the NATO exercises of between 6-18 months. Once activated Reconnaissance Teams deploy within 5 days. This is the first of a number of deployment phases that lead to the deployment of the entire HQ Joint Task Force and Immediate Reaction Forces within 30 days.