New forces
The post-Cold War security environment has inevitably led to the development of new force structures. Recent military operations in Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan particularly demonstrated NATO's need for more flexible and rapid deployable joint forces.

The first major change came with the creation of the Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF) concept in 1993, which was fully introduced in 1999. The concept envisages multi-national task forces, comprising land, air and sea assets, capable of deploying in crisis management operations under the command of a single CJTF headquarters. In July 2001, NATO decided to redefine the posture of the forces available to it by creating the High Readiness Force (HRF), comprising combined land, air and naval forces for Article V and other operations both inside and outside NATO territory, and the Forces of Lower Readiness (FLR), which would act as the alliance’s reserves to reinforce the HRF.

High Readiness Force deployable headquarters

• Allied Command Europe Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) at Rheindahlen, Germany
• Eurocorps at Strasbourg, France Rapid Reaction Corps-France (QG CRR-FR) at Lille, France
• 1 German/Netherlands Corps at Münster, Germany NATO Rapid Deployable Corps-Italy
  (NRDC-IT) at Milan, Italy.
• NATO Rapid Deployable Corps-Spain (NRDC-SP) at Valencia, Spain
• NATO Rapid Deployable Corps-Turkey (NRDC-TU) at Istanbul, Turkey Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO (STRIKFORNATO) at Naples, Italy*

* Designated a High Readiness Force (Expanded Task Force) headquarters - HRF (ETF).

The HRF’s main land forces, totalling some 60,000 troops, can be commanded by seven rapid deployable headquarters. Each HQ can command a brigade-sized operation for up to six months. The FLR can be commanded by headquarters in Greece and Poland. HRF maritime forces can be commanded from the Italian and British aircraft carriers Giuseppe Garibaldi and HMS Ark Royal or the Spanish LPD SPS Castilla. The HRF’s air element uses existing NATO force structures. Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO (STRIKFORNATO) at Naples, Italy is the alliance’s only headquarters available to command multinational maritime expeditionary forces inside or outside the Euro-Atlantic area, which could include US-led carrier strike groups and/or amphibious forces. It is composed of staff from nine NATO states, comprising France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Turkey, the UK and the US, and is under US command (Vice-Admiral James A Winnefeld since 2007).

Forces of Lower Readiness deployable headquarters

• NATO Deployable Corps-Greece (NDC-GR) at Athens, Greece
• Multi-National Corps North-East (MNC NE) at Szczecin, Poland

The alliance decided to further develop its combined force structures at the 2002 Prague Summit by creating the European-led NATO Response Force (NRF), an idea submitted by the US specifically to undertake peacekeeping, peace enforcement, evacuation, humanitarian or counter-terrorism operations. The NRF’s initial operational capability (IOC) was declared in October 2003 with deployments in the US and in Pakistan; final operational capability (FOC) was declared in October 2006. The NRF is composed of up to 25,000 troops capable of undertaking overseas operations at a minimum of five days of notice to deploy. It is able to sustain itself for a period of thirty days before a larger force can be deployed. The NRF’s land component normally comprises 12 battalions, composed of airborne, mechanised and amphibious infantry, as well as artillery, aviation, engineers and other support units. Germany, the Netherlands and Turkey have so far led the land component. The Air Component of the NRF comprises about 90 combat aircraft, capable of flying up to 200 sorties per day, plus airborne early warning, aerial refuelling, rotary-wing and ground missile defence support. NATO's main maritime forces available to the NRF comprise the two Standing NRF Maritime Groups (SNMG1 and SNMG2), which are each composed of up to ten destroyers and frigates, and two Standing NRF Mine Counter Measures Groups (SNMCMG1, SNMCMG2), each composed of about six MCMVs. A maritime force (Marfor) of about 51 vessels can also be deployed. Units assigned to the NRF are done on a rotational basis, usually about six months.

NATO has developed other capabilities to support the NRF or other forces. A rapid-deployable multinational chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) defence battalion, composed of personnel from 13 NATO states, became operational in 2003. NATO is developing an Active Layered Theatre Ballistic Missile Defence (ALTBMD) system, which will see the use of land, air and sea-based systems to protect alliance forces against short and medium-range missile threats, mostly from the Middle East. ALTBMD IOC is planned for 2010. It will run in parallel to the US’s own planned missile defence programme, which will include the basing of early warning radar and interceptor missile systems in the Czech Republic and Poland by 2012. ALTBMD is likely to use some of these facilities, but will also draw on assets from other NATO member states, including radars at Fylingdales in the UK and Thule in Greenland.