NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said: "I thank Poland for leading NATO’s high readiness forces this year.”
He added: “The Very High Readiness Joint Task Force, our Spearhead Force, is a substantial contribution to our collective defence and a strong display of Poland’s capabilities.”
According to the nato.int website, the core of the VJTF in 2020 will be Poland’s 21st Podhale Rifles Brigade, supported by units from the country’s 12th Mechanised Division, the 3rd Transport Aviation Wing, military police, as well as logistics experts and counter-chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear specialists.
NATO member states take turns at the helm of the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force every year.
Poland on New Year’s Day replaced Germany, which led the force until December 31, 2019.
According to NATO's Stoltenberg, the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force “is available to move immediately to defend any Ally against any threat.”
“At a time of unprecedented security challenges, it is more important than ever,” Stoltenberg has said, as quoted by the Western military alliance on its website.
NATO heads of state and government agreed to create the VJTF at the alliance’s Wales summit in 2014 in response to a changed security environment, including Russia’s illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea and turmoil in the Middle East, according to the nato.int website.
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Source: IAR, TVP, nato.int