NATO, Russia to conduct joint missile defense exercise

NATO and Russia will conduct a joint Theater Missile Defense (TMD) exercise from March 14 to March 23 at Airbase De Peel, the Netherlands, NATO headquarters announced on Wednesday.

This is the second in a series of joint NATO-Russia TMD CommandPost Exercises (CPX), dubbed "Collaborative Arrow 05".

"The objectives of the CPX are to exercise the Experimental Concept and associated Experimental Concept of Operations (CONOPS)developed by the joint NATO-Russia TMD Ad Hoc Working Group as well as to practice procedures for TMD planning and coordination,"said a press release issued by NATO headquarters.

Over 50 participants from 10 NATO nations and Russia are expected to participate in the exercise with additional support and personnel provided by the NATO Military Authorities.

The CPX is a computer-assisted, real time event that focuses oncommand and control of forces.

"The CPX is expected to provide the basis for future interoperability enhancements and developing mechanisms and procedures for joint operations in the area of Theater Missile Defense," said NATO.

The first NATO-Russia TMD CPX was conducted in March 2004 at the Joint National Integration Center in Colorado of the United States, and Russia has offered to host a TMD CPX in the latter part of 2006.

Source: Xinhua