Atlantic Council

From Britain's Ministry of Defense:  The current incumbents, the German Air Force, were represented by Brigadier General Nolte at a handover of the NRF lead duty to the RAF’s JFACC Air Commodore Martin Sampson at an official ceremony at HQ Air Command.

Leading the NRF is based on a rotational system, and is led by the UK once every 4 years. It is made up of air, land, maritime and special force components that maintain high readiness to deploy around the world, providing immediate military response to emerging crises.

If a crisis occurs requiring NRF response in 2013, the RAF JFAC and his Headquarters will command and control joint air operations. The JFACC will integrate military air assets from NATO and tailor the capability to the specific planned mission.

Air Commodore Sampson said:

This is a really important time for the UK JFAC and the RAF. Operations over Libya emphasised how important our role within NATO is as well as underlying the need to maintain a robust air command and control capability.

This year holds many uncertainties, the unfolding events in Africa is but one example; however, the UK JFAC is well prepared and confident in its ability to face up to the challenge of leading NATO air power.

I would like to thank the whole German JFAC organisation for sharing its experiences of NRF leadership over the past 12 months and to General Nolte for taking the time to hand over formally today.

As strong NATO partners, I look forward to our continued dialogue and interaction as we continue to discharge the most vital task of air command and control.   (photo: Reuters)