PREMIUM: C-SOCC begins training to support NATO Response Force – Special Operations – Shephard Media

Despite the ongoing COVID-19 coronaviruspandemic, SOF elements from across the Composite Special Operations Component Command (C-SOCC) have initiated joint training as they build up to support the NATO ResponseForce (NRF) in 2021.

Speaking to Shephard, service officialswithin Netherlands Special Operations Command (NLD SOCOM) confirmed SOFelements from across the organisation, which includes the armys KCT and navysNL-MARSOF, will continue to conduct national requirements in addition to C-SOCCtraining demands over the remainder of the year with the Belgian SpecialOperations Regiment and the Danish SOCOM.

However, NLD SOCOM sources confirmed to Shephardthat training and readiness exercises in support of NRF 2021 were likelyto be affected by the COVID-19 situation.

In Denmark, The Netherlands and Belgium, it iscurrently unknown what the extent of this influence [of COVID-19] is. Whenthere is more clarity an update will follow. It goes without saying that NLD SOCOM takes its national and NATOresponsibilities. We will participate in all training and exercise events thatare possible to enhance our readiness level, the NLS SOCOM spokespersonexplained.

In 2021, personnel will be dedicated for the standbyphase of NRF 2021 and ready to deploy for C-SOCC should it be necessary, thespokesperson added.

The C-SOCC dates back to June 2018 when an MoU was signedbetween the participating nations to develop the concept- something which hassince been mimicked with the Regional Special Operations Component Command(R-SOCC) in Central Europe.

The move, NLD SOCOM sources explained, has actedas a catalyst to enable Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands to reach theirNATO special operations capability targets at the SOCC joint operations level.

'This catalyst generates a critical command andcontrol capability to NATO in the short to mid-term, in order for the threenations to reach higher levels of capability in the long term, the NLDspokesperson confirmed to Shephard.

All threenations reach higher levels of capabilities individually and as a collectivethat serve long term positive results extending beyond 2020 and 2021. Afterfinishing training as a C-SOCC in 2020, this special operations headquarters[will be] ready and deployable to meet NATO responsibilities as a NRF in 2021,it was added.

According to the spokesperson, the NLD SOCOM continues towitness an increased demand for SOF operations with special forces increasinglyworking in an international context.

These SOF operations are demanded in differenttype of conflicts with a common trait: operating effectively in conflictsrequires a SOF network through a SOF community. The tri-nation cooperation inthe C-SOCC serves as an example of how to achieve this.

Together they build their own and each otherscapacities during the C-SOCC period in 2020, the NRF standby period in 2021 andbeyond that. With the C-SOCC and NRF, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Belgium areextending needed NATOs capacities, the spokesperson concluded.

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PREMIUM: C-SOCC begins training to support NATO Response Force - Special Operations - Shephard Media