Components of the Spanish contingent in LANDCOM HQ participate in the final phase of the evaluation of the NRDC-ESP as Warfighting Corps (WFC)

• El The NRDC-ESP has been certified as the second Warfighting Corps Headquarters since the end of the cold war.

A total of nine (9) Spanish military personnel, assigned to the NATO Land Component Headquarters (NATO LANDCOM HQ), headquartered in Izmir (Turkey), led by Brigadier General José María Martínez Ferrer, have participated between November 21 and December 2 in the final phase of the Combat Readiness Evaluation (CREVAL) of the NATO Rapid Response Spanish Army Corps Headquarters (NRDC-ESP).

The evaluation was part of the execution phase of the Steadfast Leda 21 (STLE 21) exercise, carried out at the Araca military base (Vitoria). This event represents  the culmination of a process that has lasted more than a year and in which the components of the NRDC-ESP have had to overcome several phases of evaluation, among which we must highlight the crisis planning (CRP) phase and "Staff Assistance Visit" (SAV), until reaching this last one of execution, where they have had to plan and conduct operations  in the framework of a crisis scenario under Article 5 in a large-scale operation (Major Joint Operation - MJO +).

The evaluation team was composed of fifty members, mostly from LANDCOM HQ, supported by military personnel from the ARRC, NRDC-T and the CBRN Centre of Excellence. The evaluation was directed by US Army Lieutenant General Roger L. Cloutier, Chief of LANDCOM HQ, with General Martinez Ferrer, Deputy Chief of Staff Plans, acting as deputy. The Spanish military personnel have developed different roles, highlighting those related to Evaluation procedures and those carried out as experts in targeting, logistics and intelligence.

Despite the weather adversities, the COVID-19 pandemic situation and those inherent to the execution of an operation of these characteristics, the NRDC-ESP has managed to put into practice innovative methods regarding the organization of Command Positions and the development of the Battle rhythm, being certified as the second Warfighting Corps Headquarters (WFC) of the alliance since the end of the Cold War (the first one was the British Rapid Reaction Corps - ARRC).

This fact was reflected in a ceremony in which the Chief of the ARRC handed over the WFC flag to the Chief of the NRDC-ESP, Lieutenant General García Vaquero.