Annals: Series on Military Sciences (Dec 2020)
DEVELOPMENT OF DEFENCE RAPID REACTION CAPABILITIES IN THE FRAMEWORK OF COMMON SECURITY AND DEFENSE POLICY
Abstract
: In May 2004, General Affairs and External Relations Council agreed upon the new Headline Goal which will guide the European cooperation in the field of defense activities until 2010 (HLG 2010). The main aspects taken into consideration were structured along three priorities regarding forces interoperability, deployment and sustainment capability. In this regard, HLG2010 introduced the notion of “highly deployable force packages” as the main element to be taken into account for planning purposes and overall management of operational commitments. The theoretical support in this approach was based on the Battle Groups Concept having as the main objectives achievement by 2005 of the Initial Operational Capability (IOC) and, subsequently, by the end of 2007 of the Final Operational Capability (FOC). Within the overall EU Level of Ambition regarding the capacity to conduct, simultaneously, two rapid reaction operations, it was decided to have two Battle Groups for six months stand-by periods.