Longbow and Lancer Series of Exercises
With the September 2006 PfP exercises "COOPERATIVE LONGBOW" and "COOPERATIVE LANCER" two new exercise series conducted by NATO in the framework of the Partnership for Peace program entered the scene of international military training and cooperation.
The exercises, however, are not a new creation but much rather a continuation. The reason for this is that, due to a concept change, the former exercise series were renamed in order to indicate that new series had begun. In accordance with the new concept the brigade-level command post exercise (CPX) LONGBOW is followed by a training exercise for infantry sections, resulting in the live exercise (LIVEX)/field training exercise (FTX) LANCER, which employs the same peace support operation (PSO) scenario and many of LONGBOW’s personnel as trainers/observers (T/Os) and Directing Staff (DISTAFF) members.
As a rule between 1,100 and 1,500 military personnel from the following nations participates in the exercise:
- Seven NATO member nations: Canada, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
- Twelve Partner nations: Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Montenegro, Switzerland and Ukraine.
- One Mediterranean Dialogue country: Israel.
- Morocco,Qatar and the United Arab Emirates send observers.
Based on a fictitious United Nations mandated, NATO-led crisis response operation, the aim of these exercises is to promote interoperability between NATO and Partner forces when conducting a complex and dynamic operation. CO LW / CO LR provide a good balance between NATO’s training requirements and Partner training needs, incorporating real-world operational experience.
For 2006 the exercises were scheduled in Moldova: the command post exercise "COOPERATIVE LONGBOW 2006" (COLW06) in the capital Chisinau and the field training exercise "COOPERATIVE LANCER 2006" (COLR06) in the training area of Bulboaca. COLW was conducted in the Ministry of Defense from 7 to 21 September, immediately followed by the FTX, which lasted until 29 September. 24 NATO and PfP states, ranging from the USA to Kazakhstan to Turkey, participated in the CPX, making it a truly multinational and interesting experience.
The main goal of COLW06 was to train information flow. Things like how to best assault a terrorist training camp can only work when everybody knows what he or she needs to know. So it was about getting people to communicate with each other. The important thing was not to be afraid of speaking in English. Grammar mistakes and occasionally using wrong vocabulary did not matter, as long as the meaning was brought across.
Multi-national exercises add to the experience and increase the effectiveness of participating nations whether involved in an overseas mission, training or preparing to deploy. The multinational environment allows soldiers to exchange information and put into practice training after learning from other counties. Exercises like Cooperative Longbow/Lancer further stress the importance of standardizing procedures when working together.
Cooperative Longbow 07 and Cooperative Lancer 07 (CO LW / CO LR 07) took place in Albania, during the period 07 to 30 October 2007. From October 14-21, representatives from Russia, The United Arab Emirates and Japan, were visiting and observing Exercise Cooperative Longbow/Lancer 2007 taking place in Tirana, Albania as part of a comprehensive observer program. The purpose of the observer program is to enhance the interoperability of the Armed Forces of NATO, Partnership for Peace, Mediterranean Dialogue, Istanbul Cooperation Initiative and Contact Country Representatives (Afghanistan, Argentina, Japan) so that they was able to act side-by-side with NATO nations during Peace Support and/or Crisis Response Operations.
“I am very impressed by the work that has been done by Albania towards this very important exercise,”<said Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Blinkov, one of the Russian observers taking part in the program. Russia has been participating in the Partnership for Peace program since 1994 and such observer opportunities create deeper understanding and interoperability between NATO and Russia.
“I am very happy to be part of the exercise as an observer,” said Captain Navy Toshihiro Nakamura, from Japan. “The program has been very interesting and very well put together. Taking part in the program is an opportunity to cooperate with NATO and Partnership for Peace counties.”
Cooperative Longbow 08/ Cooperative Lancer 08 (COLW/COLR 08), was conducted in Armenia, between 26 September and 21 October 2008 at the Yerevan military institute.
The aim of COLW/COLR 08 was to improve the interoperability of NATO and other forces. The exercises involved approximately 1100 service members from 7 NATO nations, 12 Partnership for Peace (PfP) nations, as well as other partner nations, and ICI member United Arab Emirates.
The scenario was based on a United Nations (UN) mandated NATO-led Crisis Response Operation(CRO), involving 1100 military personnel from 21 nations. COLW/ COLR 08 provided a visible demonstration of NATO’s ability to conduct a complex and dynamic operation aimed at the interoperability of NATO and partner forces.
Although the LONGBOW and LANCER 2008 general plan resembled, by and large, what was done previous year in Albania, there were differences, particularly with regard to the application of lessons learned in previous exercises. “When you take the current situation in Georgia,” said Maj Mailloux, “a country that borders Armenia, and where geopolitical tensions currently prevail, there is an opportunity to devise even more realistic exercises simulating a response to a crisis situation, for example. If the logistical support of the host country is comparable to what the Albanians did last year, we will benefit from an exercise that takes into account the lessons learned last time.”
During the exercise, German Lieutenant-Colonel Hans Gembella acted as chief of NATO’s media information centre. His observations were consistent with those of Maj Mailloux. “We expected the exercise to play out more smoothly,” LCol Gembella said, “because of the difficulties determined last year during the previous Ex LONGBOW and LANCER and as a result of the corrections we made. But there were many difficulties, in particular with regard to the multiple requirements that such a multinational exercise imposes on the host country. We can only salute the efforts of the highly motivated Armenian planning team, which did an excellent job of removing obstacles and holding an exercise that, all in all, went very well.”
NATO will conduct exercises Cooperative Longbow 09 – Cooperative Lancer 09 during the period 6 May to 1 June 2009 in Georgia. Planning for these exercises began in spring 2008 with the aim of improving interoperability between NATO and partner countries, within the framework of Partnership for Peace,Mediterranean Dialogue and Istanbul Cooperation Initiative programs.
Twenty nations will participate: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan,Bosnia & Herzegovina, Canada,Croatia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and the United States.
The exercise will be conducted in Tbilisi, Georgia, with approximately 650 personnel from NATO and partner countries being deployed to the Vaziani training area, twenty kilometers east of Tbilisi. The scenario is based on a fictitious United Nations mandated, NATO-led crisis response operation. Lieutenant General Cayetano Mirò Valls, Commander Allied Land Component Command Madrid, will command the exercise.
Cooperative Longbow 09 will be followed by a field training exercise, Cooperative Lancer 09, which is designed to provide basic training on peace support operations at the battalion level, and will take place at Vaziani barracks from 18 may to 01 June 2009. Cooperative Lancer will involve approximately 450 troops.
LONGBOW and LANCER, in their current form, combine a command post exercise and a field training exercise, respectively. For the host country, coordinating two distinct exercises at one time can be a Herculean task.
COLW is a Command Post exercise with a Multinational Brigade Headquarters as Primary Target Audience (PTA) and unit and sub-unit Response Cells as Secondary Target Audience. The exercise aims at teaching and training basic NATO staff skills and procedures to qualify participants to participate as individual augmentees in NATO exercises and/or deployments.
COLR is a Live Exercise/ Field Training Exercise with a Multinational Battalion and Companies as PTA. Aim of this exercise is to improve military interoperability at individual and multinational small unit level through improving and exchanging light infantry skills while exercising in a variety of CRO settings.
COLW/ COLR are aimed at providing a good balance between NATO’s training requirements and PfP/ICI’s training needs.
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