NATO-TV

The world’s oceans are busy maritime highways. Today, 85 per cent of all international trade in raw material and manufactured goods travels by sea, and tankers carry more than half of the world’s oil. The stakes of maritime security are high, and NATO is determined to help protect its Allies from any possible threats at sea.

Through deterrence, collective defence, crisis management and cooperative security, NATO maritime forces work with nations, partners and institutions to improve maritime security and be ready to face any threat.

During the Wales Summit in 2014, NATO agreed to create a Spearhead Force as part of the NATO Response Force, able to deploy at a very short notice. In 2016, Spain is heading the land component of the first NATO Very High Readiness Joint Task Force, the VJTF.

This story follows three members of the 7th Light Infantry Brigade Galicia, Brilat, showing their day-to-day life. The film crew embedded with Brilat from training through deployment for exercise Brilliant Jump and then on their way home, sharing both professional and personal moments along the way.

Soldiers from Lithuania, Poland and the United States recently took part in Exercise Strong Hussar, in Lithuania. The training lasted for two weeks. It gave the Allies an opportunity to combine operations and test their interoperability. Footage includes shots of the soldiers live-firing in wooded areas and tanks from the various units.

In the Baltic Sea, more than 70 pilots, co-pilots and loadmasters take part in a routine air crash training exercise. Each person is lowered into the sea in a metal simulator cage, and must then escape while underwater. The exercise is designed to test the entire search and rescue system and so helicopters are scrambled to rescue the airmen as though in a real emergency situation.

The German Air Force is now contributing to NATO’s assurance measures on its Eastern Border under operation “Persistent Presence”. The German air force has deployed its Deployable Control & Reporting Centre or DCRC, a Tactical Air Command which helps monitor the Baltic skies, keeping track of flights over the Baltics by logging, identifying and tracking. A deployable radio system acts as the ears and the voice of the system. All this equipment is stationed at Lielvarde Airbase, with the support of the Latvian military. Interviews with the German Commander of the deployed unit, as well as technicians and flight controllers involved in the operation.

The German Air Force is now contributing to NATO’s assurance measures on its Eastern Border under operation “Persistent Presence”. The German air force has deployed its Deployable Control & Reporting Centre or DCRC, a Tactical Air Command which helps monitor the Baltic skies, keeping track of flights over the Baltics by logging, identifying and tracking. A deployable radio system acts as the ears and the voice of the system. All this equipment is stationed at Lielvarde Airbase, with the support of the Latvian military. Interviews with the German Commander of the deployed unit, as well as technicians and flight controllers involved in the operation.

“A JTAC is a special breed. You need to be able to handle a lot of stress, you need to be able to handle a lot of inputs from different players like airplanes, ground force commanders, bullets flying around you.”

It’s the job of a JTAC to call in air support when troops come under fire. An exercise in the Czech Republic focuses on training JTACs, or Joint Terminal Attack Controllers as they’re known.

Fifteen hundred military personnel from 16 NATO Allies and partner nations are gathered together in the Czech Republic to train their JTACS or Joint Terminal Attack Controllers. That's the service member whose job it is to call in air support if troops are coming under fire. Ample Strike 2016 – an international Czech-led exercise –also provides an opportunity to train aircrew and commanders of ground units in realistic, complex and demanding scenarios. Footage includes shots of soldiers running under fire in a training scenario and the JTAC calling in an air strike.

NATO experts teach the Iraqi Armed Forces the skills they need to clear their towns and cities of IEDs. The course is part of NATO’s Defense Capacity Building Package for Iraq.

NATO experts teach the Iraqi Armed Forces the skills they need to clear their towns and cities of IEDs. The course is part of NATO’s Defense Capacity Building Package for Iraq.

NATO experts teach the Iraqi Armed Forces the skills they need to clear their towns and cities of IEDs. The course is part of NATO’s Defense Capacity Building Package for Iraq.