Allied Command Europe Rapid Reaction Corps

Allied Command Europe Rapid Reaction Corps - ARRC -
Association badge
Lineup	2nd October 1992
Country	United Kingdom another 16 nations
Armed forces	Her Majesty's Armed Forces another 16
Armed forces	British Army another 16
Type	High Readiness Force (Land) HQ NATO Response Force (temporary)
Strength	~ 400 (constantly)
Insinuation	SHAPE
Seat of the staff	Innsworth
motto	Audentis fortuna iuvat Luck helps the daring
Awards	Flag ribbon Germany (2010)
commander
Commanding general	Lieutenant General Sir Edward Smyth-Osbourne
Deputy	Major General Maurizio Boni

The Allied Command Europe Rapid Reaction Corps ( ARRC ) is a multinational NATO corps under the leadership of the United Kingdom , which today is essentially only set up as headquarters . The Headquarters Allied Command Europe Rapid Reaction Corps (HQ ARRC) was formed from parts of the former British I. Corps in 1992 and was stationed at JHQ Rheindahlen near Mönchengladbach from May 1994 . In the summer of 2010, the headquarters of the staff was relocated to the Air Operations Coordination Center (AOCC) in Innsworth near Gloucester in the English county of Gloucestershire . In addition to the United Kingdom, 16 nations participate in the corps, including Germany.

Tasks and skills

The HQ ARRC is qualified to provide a headquarters under NATO / or EU leadership for the management of crisis management missions. Specifically, the HQ ARRC provides one of these types of headquarters:

• a corps headquarters
• a Land Component Headquarters
• a Combined Joint Force Land Component Command
• a Land Component HQ in command of the NATO Response Force

The ARRC is subordinate to the SHAPE and classified as Rapidly Deployable Corps Headquarters or High Readiness Force (Land) HQ . It is thus also able to provide forces for the NATO Rapid Reaction Force . The headquarters can be relocated and operated worldwide within five to 30 days, including the fulfillment of all self-protection and leadership support requirements.

structure

Only the staff with appropriate management support staff such as telecommunications, pioneers and security units are permanently present in the ARRC. In detail, the management team reports:

• Central Staffs (support group for the commanding general)
• Operations Division (planning and management staff)
• Rear Support Command (responsible for relocating the HQ ARRC)
• Combat Service Support Division (combat support division )
• G6 department (IT support)
• Engineer Branch (Pioneer Command)
• 1st (UK) Telecommunications Brigade ( Elmpt and Rheindahlen )

The lead nation of the ARRC is Great Britain, it is led by a British 3-star general. Great Britain finances around 80% of the corps and provides around 60% of the soldiers. The 16 other participating nations, each providing parts of the staff or just liaison officers, include: Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, Greece, Italy, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Czech Republic, Turkey, Hungary and USA. The ARRC's staff consists of around 400 people. The permanent assignment of defined national divisions and their demand-driven subordination has been given up with the conversion into a High Readiness Force (Land) HQ. The participating nations can, however, provide forces that are still needed if necessary or for exercises. These are currently:

• 1st Armored Division
• 1st (UK) Division
• 3rd (UK) Division
• Division "Acqui"
• 1st Danish Division

history

Early years

The ARRC was put into service in October 1992 as part of a parade in Bielefeld . The staff of this multinational association, the Headquarters ARRC (HQ ARRC) was formed from the former British I. Corps and has been stationed at JHQ Rheindahlen near Mönchengladbach since May 1994 . The ARRC belonged to Allied Command Europe (ACE) and in peacetime was subordinate to the Supreme Commander of NATO Headquarters Europe (SHAPE) , Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR). The HQ ARRC could lead up to four divisions simultaneously in a military operation in Europe. To this end, the participating NATO nations assigned ten divisions as options for such an operation. These were:

• 1st Armored Division (UK) - Germany - 18,500
• 3rd Mechanized Division (UK) - Great Britain - 18,500
• 1st Armored Division (US) - Germany - 22,000
• 7th Panzer Division (GE) - Germany - 19,000 (dissolved in 2006, task initially taken over by 1st Panzer Division )
• Spanish Rapid Reaction Division (FAR) - Spain 10,000
• 3rd Mechanized Division (IT) - Italy - 18,000
• 2nd Mechanized Infantry Division (GR) - Greece
• 1st Mechanized Division (TU) - Turkey - 13,600
• Multinational Division North, from 1994: Multinational Division Central (GE, BE, NL, UK) (dissolved in 2002)
• Multinational Division South (IT, GR, TU) (now dissolved)

At the same time, the nations provided a wide range of combat support units as possible corps troops. The 17 participating nations included: Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, Greece, Great Britain, Italy, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Czech Republic, Turkey, Hungary and the USA.

transformation

As part of the transformation of NATO, the ARRC was gradually transformed into the corps headquarters with today's tasks. For this purpose, the ARRC tested its readiness for action as a "readily available corps staff" (HRF) with a maneuver in Sennelager between February 18 and March 7, 2002 and passed this test successfully. The ARRCADE GUARD exercise was designed to test both military capabilities and peacekeeping capabilities. A total of 2,500 soldiers were involved in the exercise.

In the new NATO command structure, the ARRC is subordinate to the supreme command of the NATO headquarters in Europe Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE). The ARRC is now one of the seven rapidly deployable multinational High Readiness Forces.

Calls

Bosnia, 1996: With the support of the American army, the ARRC set up a headquarters for the IFOR in Sarajevo

The ARRC carried out missions abroad as part of:

• IFOR: From May 1995 to 1996, the HQ ARRC as Land Component Command (LCC) led the NATO operation "Implementation Force" ( Peace Implementation Forces , IFOR) in the former Yugoslavia together with US officers . Was involved u. a. the British 24th Airmobile Brigade with 5500 soldiers, as well as 4000 French and 180 Dutch soldiers. On July 25, 1995, parts of the ARRC got into a firefight with Bosnian Serbs on Mount Igman near Sarajevo . In April 1996 Holger Kammerhoff became Deputy Chief of Staff of the ARRC and until November 1996 commanded the IFOR headquarters in Croatia.
• KFOR (1999)
• ISAF (2006)
• ISAF (2011)

From November 9 to 19, 2015, the ARRC took part with 1,700 soldiers from 20 NATO countries and Sweden in the Arrcade Fusion 15 maneuver in the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and served as a test for the NATO Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF).

Commanding generals

Lt. Gen. David Richards during the ISAF mission with US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in Kabul

The previous Commanding Generals (COMARRC) were:

Surname	Beginning of the appointment	End of appointment
Lieutenant General Timothy Radford	July 2016	-
Lieutenant General Timothy Evans	August 2013	July 2016
Lieutenant General James Bucknall	March 2011	August 2013
Lieutenant General Richard Shirreff	January 2007	March 2011
Lieutenant General David J. Richards	January 19, 2005	January 2007
Lieutenant General Richard Dannatt	January 15, 2003	January 19, 2005
Lieutenant General Christopher Drewry	January 26, 2000	January 15, 2003
Lieutenant General Mike Jackson	February 1997	January 2000
Lieutenant General Michael Walker, Baron Walker of Aldringham	December 1994	February 1997
Lieutenant General Jeremy Mackenzie	October 1992	December 1994

Association badge and motto

The association badge shows an upturned spearhead without a spear shaft on a green Gothic shield. The representation of the spearhead is reminiscent of the association badge of other multinational associations such as that of the 1st German-Dutch Corps . The association badge is worn on the left sleeve of German members of the corps without a corps name. In addition to the name of the corps, the badge contains the Latin inscription on the reverse : AUDENTIS FORTUNA IUVAT (German: Luck helps the daring). This proverb is said to go back to the Roman poet Virgil .

financing

The NATO member states pay membership fees of around 2.77 million euros in 2018 to finance the headquarters of the ACE-Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC, including the Air Operations Coordination Center (AOCC)) in Innsworth. The German share is around 16.3% (around 451,000 euros).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ARRC's move to UK ( Memento from January 26, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ NATO's deployable corps headquarters command changes.
3. ↑ BBC News: A lifetime of service

Web links

• ARRC website
• Image brochure ( Memento of October 10, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF file; 1.9 MB)

Coordinates: 51 ° 10 ′ 35 ″  N , 6 ° 19 ′ 18 ″  E