Senior officials from Finland last week visited the NATO C3 Agency to discuss details of a multi-year program for cooperation on advanced technology.
The five-year program of work will address C4ISR domains such as: force support, battlespace awareness, force application, logistics, command and control, net-centric warfare and protection.
The agreement, signed Oct. 12, is the first multi-year program of work signed between a country, be it NATO or partner, and the Agency. The C3 Agency runs about 150 bilateral projects with nations each year, but the aim is to translate these into multi-year programs.
“The Agency’s strategy is to move from annual to multi-year programs of work, as this will facilitate resource planning and ensure that we deliver to Nations’ satisfaction,” said Georges D’hollander, NC3A General Manager. “Longer-term commitments facilitate resource and facility planning, so that we are able to respond rapidly to increasing demand from Nations for bilateral and multinational cooperation, in line with the Secretary General’s smart defense policy.”
Brig. Gen. Harri Ohra-aho, ACOS C4 FDF, during the Nov. 15 visit, said, “Cooperation with NC3A is important to Finland in many ways. The multi-year program helps the Finnish Defence Forces to make cost-effective solutions for the future. Interoperability will be achieved with more coherent manner and with fewer resources when we are able to approach it in a systematic way. Working together with NC3A specialists helps us better to understand multinational approach and standards in the development of our C4 systems.”
Several other nations have expressed interest in establishing multi-year programs, including Istanbul Cooperation partners, such as Qatar.
The Cooperation with Nations is led by the Directorate Sponsor Account NATO and Nations.
Velizar Shalamanov, director of the Account, said, “The Libya campaign has demonstrated the need for NATO and its Partners to join ‘one’ mission network for operations and it is only possible with proven interoperability achieved through cooperative capability development,” said. “We have a very robust range of products: off-the-shelf NATO capabilities that can be passed on to Partners, and advanced laboratories to test interoperability. This will be even more visible in the new edition of the Agency’s Catalogue of Products and Expertise.”