NATO Command and Control Centre of Excellence

"Cyberspace is now the "primary warfighting domain", and systematically integrated into every kind of warfare"

‘We must act much more as an ecosystem and collaborate with partners in an open and constructive manner.’ Colonel Mietta Groeneveld (Director of the NATO Command and Control Centre of Excellence Command & Control Centre of Excellence) joined a roundtable discussion on 'How to lead organizations responsible for the future-proofing of critical infrastructure, while simultaneously scaling up, digitizing, and preparing for crises' The roundtable, organised by Management Scope and Boer & Croon, brought together people from defence, business, and critical infrastructure. One point came up again and again: today's threats are a mix of cyber, cognitive, and kinetic activity, and they're no longer at the border... they're already here. Colonel Groeneveld made the case that the armed forces need to innovate faster and lean on the commercial sector for technology. It also asks for a different kind of leader. Read the full interview, that is published in the Management Scope 05 2026, here: https://lnkd.in/eUu6C42U

OPOAAA Annual Discipline Conference 26 concluded The sixth Annual Discipline Conference (#ADC) for the Operations Planning, Operations Assessment, and Alternative Analysis (#OPOAAA) discipline took place at the Kromhout Barracks in Utrecht, The Netherlands, on April 15th and 16th, 2026. The NATO Command and Control Centre of Excellence serves as the Department Head (DH) for this discipline. The conference was hosted by the NATO C2COE and led by LTC Chris V., who acted as the department head on behalf of the NATO C2COE. This year’s edition welcomed over 30 officers, specialists, and managers from various entities, aligning the #OPOAAA efforts to enhance the Alliance. This discipline is one of the numerous disciplines within the NATO Global Programming (GP) for Education & Training, Exercises, and Evaluation (ETEE), which oversees Education and Training (E&T) within NATO. Each discipline has its own specific focus to prevent duplication and inefficiency. The NATO C2COE will publish a Discipline Alignment Plan (DAP) and, based on experiences and the ADC discussions, continue its role as the DH. With the challenge of “connecting the dots,” finding and orchestrating appropriate solutions for the present and the future, the NATO C2COE has an improved focus and scope on this topic.

𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐎 𝐂2𝐂𝐎𝐄 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝- 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 Over the past weeks, NATO C2COE delivered its newly developed workshop series on Multi-Domain Operations and Cross-Domain Command at two partner institutions: the University of Defence in Brno, Czech Republic (5 March 2026) and the Försvarshögskolan - Swedish Defence University (8 April 2026). Both workshops brought together military professionals and academic faculty in a structured learning environment, designed to bridge the gap between conventional and cross-domain command thinking. Participants engaged with lectures delivered by the Centre's staff officers, drawing on current doctrinal developments and real-world operational insights. The workshop at the Swedish Defence University concluded with a purpose-built, matrix-type, Operational-level (leading into Strategic level) wargame, specifically designed to challenge participants' decision-making in complex, multi-domain environments and enforce a NATO mindset under realistic conditions. The response from both institutions was enthusiastic. Feedback from participants has been encouraging, confirming that structured cross-domain thinking meets a genuine need among military professionals and educators alike. NATO C2COE extends its thanks to both institutions and all participants for their engagement and contributions. Discussions are already underway to continue collaboration, and the C2COE mobile Education and Training Team (METT) remains available to deliver this workshop series to other interested institutions and organisations across the Alliance.

On Tuesday, March 19, the NATO C2COE Director, Colonel Mietta Groeneveld, joined the stage at the Forum INCYBER (FIC) in Lille, France. Europe’s leading event on cybersecurity and digital trust was held under the theme “Mastering Our Digital Dependencies.” In conversation with Julia Sieger on deterrence: Offensive capability without defensive resilience is not a strategy. The Port of Rotterdam, our energy grid, and our logistics infrastructure are all targets. Closing these vulnerabilities is not optional. The proliferation of cheap, precise, and autonomous weapons is also a real threat, requiring close cooperation with defence. This builds directly on the conversations from our #NATO Command and Control Centre of Excellence Conference in November, where the theme was: “Deterrence in the Continuum of Competition.”

𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐁𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞 We are pleased to present this publication (April 2026) bundle on Command and Control, a collected set of works reflecting the latest thinking and research in the field. We thank all the authors for giving permission to include their work in this bundle. It is designed to give readers a quick look at these valuable studies while offering the opportunity to dive deeper if they wish. We hope this bundle proves to be a useful and stimulating read. The field of #C2 continues to evolve rapidly, and it is through the sharing of research and insights such as these that our collective understanding grows. Download here: https://lnkd.in/eHN4Y6BD

𝐌𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐃𝐫. 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐇𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚 Yesterday, Major Steven Hornstra, visiting staff officer at the NATO Command and Control Centre of Excellence, defended his dissertation with great success, receiving a PhD from Maastricht University. His research focuses on connecting practical military training with academic education and introducing more adaptive, innovation-driven approaches to officer academic development. By developing and testing new instructional design models, his work aims to better prepare officers for the realities of modern, multi-domain operations. We congratulate Steven, and his supervisors (Walther van Mook, Steven Durning, and Jaap Hoogenboezem), on this achievement! Fostering Officer Competence — A Multi-Faceted Study of Military Training, Academic Education and Design Thinking-Based Innovation in Officer Development https://lnkd.in/ePRdQBMn (Photos: Bart Roost, Max van Rijn)

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐂2: 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐎, 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐂2 𝐀𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 (𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝) This shortread examines how #C2 architectures are adapting to increasingly contested and multi-domain operating environments, comparing #NATO, Iranian, and Russian approaches. It argues that traditional centralized C2 structures are becoming more vulnerable and identifies resilience, understood as the ability to absorb disruption, adapt, and continue operating, as a critical requirement. Read the article via our website: https://lnkd.in/eVAvsrH7

𝐂2𝐂𝐎𝐄 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐨𝐯𝐚 Beginning this month, staff officers of the NATO Command and Control Centre of Excellence conducted Phase 1 of a Command and Control assessment of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Moldova. A delegation comprising six officers visited the Ministry of Defence in Chișinău. Through a structured programme of visits, observations and interviews with senior representatives from the Ministry of Defence, the General Staff, and other relevant governmental institutions, including the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the delegation obtained a first comprehensive understanding of the existing C2 structures and processes within both the armed forces and the broader governmental system. This assessment is conducted at the initiative of the Permanent Representation to NATO and conducted within the framework of the NATO Enhanced Defence and Related Security Building (EDRSB) Initiative and aims to support the Republic of Moldova in the ongoing (digital) transformation of its Armed Forces. More information: https://lnkd.in/eMFv-HRq