The Allied Air Command (AIRCOM), the Allied Maritime Command (MARCOM) and the Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO (STRIKFORNATO) welcomed NATO’s Senior Military Leaders and Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) Experts for a Tri-Hosted IAMD Table Top Exercise (TTX), on 28 and 29 January, at STRIKFORNATO’s headquarters in Oeiras, Lisbon, Portugal.

The goal of this TTX was to better understand the changing environment of Integrated Air Missile Defense as threats to the Alliance shift.

STRIKFORNATO’S Deputy Commander, Rear Admiral Guy Robinson delivered the welcoming remarks, followed by comments from AIRCOM’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, Brigadier General Andrew Hanson, and MARCOM’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, Commodore Jeanette Morang.

The TTX audience spent significant time on the current NATO BMD mission and its future with upcoming Alliance capability upgrades on land, sea, and air. The change in focus at the IAMD TTX is a sign of the changing priorities in the Alliance, and how adversaries could threaten all of NATO European territory with aircraft, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles.

Commander Fred Douglas, Branch Head for STRIKFORNATO’s IAMD branch, summed it best as "Ballistic Missile Defence is like intercepting a bullet with a bullet; you have little reaction time and have to be precise. The world has changed a lot over the past years. This TTX is the first step at looking at how to defend NATO Europe from a 360 degrees threat from all air and missile weapons.”

The TTX ended with a Key leaders common agreement to investigate more time into Integrating Air and Missile Defence.

AIRCOM delivers Air and Space Power for the NATO Alliance on the European continent, the single service command for all Alliance air and space matters.

MARCOM is the central command of all NATO maritime forces and the MARCOM Commander is the primary maritime advisor to the Alliance.

STRIKFORNATO is a rapidly deployable and scalable headquarters capable of planning and executing full spectrum joint maritime operations and providing command and control of maritime Ballistic Missile Defense. As part of this mission, STRIKFORNATO is responsible for the integration of U.S. naval, carrier, and amphibious forces into NATO operations to provide assurance, deterrence, and collective defense for the Alliance.