NATO launches multinational Counter-IED initiative

NATO is launching a cost-effective project for the joint procurement and delivery of counter Improvised Explosive Device technology. Leveraging extensive experience in supporting ISAF with advanced CIED technology, NATO’s Consultation, Command and Control Agency (NC3A) will support NATO and NATO and Partner countries in countering the IED threat under the Allied Command Transformation (ACT) umbrella.

“Having multiple national projects running at the same time is not only a waste of time and money; it ultimately also puts the lives of our soldiers at risk” said NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen at the Fourth NATO Strategic Concept Seminar, Washington DC, 23 February 2010.

The Multinational C-IED initiative provides NATO countries with a common platform to work on latest technologies, as well as a wider approach to C-IEDs including the whole network surrounding the device: the financer, the supplier, the transporter, the builder, the planner, the emplacer and the triggerman.

NC3A will provide a means of coordinating joint technology procurements and advanced R&D, in order to exchange information among the NATO countries, avoid duplication of efforts in R&D and benefit from “economies of scale” in procurement. Furthermore, NC3A will help countries that may not have specific expertise in buying such equipment through, for example, technical evaluations.

“NC3A experience in procuring advanced technologies as has been done for ISAF (not all nations have experience in procuring these technologies) and delivering these capabilities into austere conditions in Afghanistan in rapid timeframes” says NC3A Project manager Franco Fiore “What is the use of technology, if it is stuck in containers, damaged/hijacked along the way?”

Next steps

On October 28-29, at the C-IED Briefing Day at NATO HQ, specific projects will be discussed;

On November 16, at the Multinational C-IED Initiative Symposium to be held at NC3A, NATO countries will have the opportunity to sign Statements, Letters of Intent or bilateral Memorandums of understanding on different technologies.

NATO launches multinational Counter-IED initiative

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