Mountain Warfare and Modelling & Simulation Experts Join Forces
The NATO Mountain Warfare Centre of Excellence (MW COE), located in Slovenia, signed a cooperation arrangement with the NATO Modelling & Simulation COE (M&S COE), located in Italy, to advance the cooperative efforts between the two Centers.
The Directors, Colonel Borut Flajšman (MW COE) and Colonel Michele Turi (M&S COE) had a long virtual meeting to discuss and sign the “Cooperation Arrangement”. This close cooperation between both NATO COEs will be reflected in common projects. By signing the Cooperation Arrangement, the M&S COE and MW COE will join their subject matter expertise capabilities to ensure the development of both NATO COEs.
The aim of the Cooperation Arrangement is to make provisions to establish a collaborative environment between the NATO MW COE and the NATO M&S COE in the areas of common interest.
On one hand, the NATO MW COE’s purpose is to provide tangible improvement of NATO’s capabilities, thereby adding value. It incorporates a professional core that ensures and develops the subject matter expertise to meet the requirements of mountain warfare challenges. This enhances the ability of individuals and military units to engage in mountain warfare, as well as the Alliance’s readiness to operate in the mountain environment. The core areas are: development of mountain warfare-specific doctrine and tactics; concept development and experimentation; mountain warfare lessons learned process; education and training; support for capability development.
On the other hand, the NATO M&S COE is dedicated to the promotion of M&S in support of operational requirements, training and interoperability. The Centre acts as a catalyst for transformation through the involvement of NATO, governments, academia, industry, and operational and training entities. The M&S COE does this by improving the networking of NATO and nationally owned M&S systems, improving the cooperation between Nations and organizations through the sharing of M&S information and developments and by serving as an international source of expertise for transformation in the related domain.
The NATO M&S COE Director Colonel Michele TURI declared:
“Our efforts aim to support and contribute to the MW COE’s Concept Experimentation. After the MW COE submitted a formal Request for Support, our Centre started to work alongside the MW COE in order to achieve their experimentation objectives. The M&S COE can be considered a unique COE with the ability to support other NATO and National entities with the use of the latest M&S technologies or by developing “ad hoc” solutions to achieve specific goals. The M&S COE acts as a “HUB” to support the other COEs with new technologies, models and effective solutions to complex tasks. The solutions and subject matter expertise of the NATO M&S COE can be cross-utilized to the maximum benefit of the Allied community. This is what we are achieving with the MW COE.”
The NATO MW COE Director Colonel Borut FLAJŠMAN stated:
“The MW COE, in the quest for finding the possibility to examine the hypotheses stated in the MW Concept, found the NATO S&M COE as a counterpart, which a year ago offered the possibility of testing solutions virtually in a simulation environment. This proved to be a very wise decision as both centers were faced with new challenges and opportunities for upgrading their cooperation, which they now confirm by signing a letter of cooperation. The wish of the Centre is to continue to enhance its participation in new projects, as the simulation environment offers many opportunities.”
Written by SM Igor Svečak and Lt. Col. Cristoforo Russo
NATO