Meeting of the NATO Military Committee early next year

The NATO Military Committee will meet on January 17 and 18, 2024, in Brussels, to discuss the situation in Ukraine, the state of the defense industry and interoperability in peacetime, crisis and conflict, according to a press release of the political-military alliance.

The mid-January meeting, chaired by Admiral Rob Bauer - the chairman of the Military Committee -, will be opened by Mircea Geoană, NATO's Deputy Secretary General, who will talk about the Alliance's priorities and key challenges for the coming year. General Christopher Cavoli, Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) and General Philippe Lavigne, Supreme Allied Commander (SACT) will also participate in the debate sessions attended by NATO member states' Chiefs of Defense Staff.

On the first day of the meeting, General Cavoli will brief the defense chiefs on the progress made in the implementation and execution of the defense plans adopted at the Vilnius Summit in July 2023, and the state of the defense industry will be discussed, with regard to the capabilities of production, operational planning and the necessary equipment. According to the source cited, General Lavigne will emphasize the need for overall coherence in achieving collective defense and enhanced deterrence, focusing on key factors such as multi-domain operations, simplified command and control, seamless interoperability and continuous improvement of capabilities in terms of quality and quantity. Defense chiefs will also discuss the roadmap for adapting to current and future threats. Another topic of discussion will be integrated air and missile defense to improve peacetime, crisis and conflict readiness and interoperability. Also on the first day, Allied defense chiefs will set further direction and guidance on NATO's military deterrence and defense priorities, with a focus on key capability requirements ahead of the Washington DC Summit decisions and beyond. At the end of the first day, the defense chiefs will meet for the first time in the format of the NATO-Ukraine Council, during which they will discuss the situation on the ground and the continued support of the Kyiv authorities by NATO and member states.

The second day of the meeting will begin with defense chiefs meeting their counterparts in the Partner Interoperability Advocacy Group (PIAG) made up of Australia, Austria, Ireland, New Zealand and Switzerland. The PIAG nations hold non-NATO nation status, and the organization will enter into an individual security agreement that will allow for the sharing of classified information and participation in NATO training and exercises. Discussions will focus on current and future opportunities for military interoperability.

Also on January 18, 2024, the heads of defense from the allied states will meet with their counterparts from the Indo-Pacific region - Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea, with whom they will discuss the security situation in the respective region, regional challenges and their implications for global security.

At the end of the meeting, Jens Stoltenberg, the Secretary General of NATO, will chair a debate on the current political objectives and the objectives that will be put on the table of the Defense Ministerial Congress in February 2024 and the Summit in Washington DC in July 2024.