Turkish military to lead NATO’s rapid reaction force from 2021 – Turkey will present an infantry brigade of 4.2 thousand soldiers to participate in the super-rapid reaction force.
Turkish military to lead NATO’s rapid reaction force from 2021
MilitaryEzyInfo.com – In 2015, NATO organized a special force to respond quickly to complex political conflicts. In 2021, Turkey will chair NATO’s rapid reaction force. This is reported by the German news agency Deutsche Welle.
According to information from the headquarters of the Atlantic Alliance, Turkey will present an infantry brigade of 4.2 thousand soldiers to participate in the super-rapid reaction force. The brigade is equipped with the latest models of Turkish military equipment, anti-tank missiles, and howitzers. In total, in 2021, NATO’s rapid reaction forces will have 6.4 thousand soldiers.
Turkish military to lead NATO to participate in VJTF
In addition to Turkey, the USA, Great Britain, Poland, and Italy will provide their military for participation in the VJTF. Turkey took over the chairmanship of the VJTF amid disagreements with other NATO members, which, however, do not yet particularly affect military cooperation within the Alliance.
Recently, the United States imposed sanctions on Turkey in connection with Ankara’s acquisition in Russia of the latest Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems. At the same time, the EU, of which most of its members are also NATO members, agreed on a series of restrictive measures against Ankara in connection with Turkish actions to explore and develop natural gas fields in the Eastern Mediterranean.
NATO’s Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) was established in the first half of 2015 as a response to events in Ukraine. Since then, these forces have been considered in the West primarily as part of the containment strategy towards Russia.
According to the doctrine, the vanguard of the ultra-rapid reaction forces must be ready to redeploy to the desired region within 72 hours. The rest of the VJTF units must meet within five to seven days. For soldiers, this means that they, in particular, are not allowed to move too far from their duty station while in these forces.
The VJTF chairmanship lasts one year. In 2018, the NATO Super-Rapid Reaction Force was chaired by Italy, 2019 by Germany, and in 2020 by Poland.
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