A senior defense official, who declined to be quoted on the record, told reporters Wednesday that European security still depends on the transatlantic alliance and that any capabilities that are developed within non-NATO European contexts, whether that be EU or otherwise, needs to be compatible and non-duplicative with NATO. PESCO Initiatives, which is really the Military Mobility Initiative that is one of our foundational projects within Europe, is moving forward in a way that’s consistent with NATO requirements and capabilities, and therefore good for both NATO and for Europe.  And we would like further projects to have the same perspective he said.

Below is a full rush transcript of the press conference by a Senior Department of Defense Official.

Senior Defense official:  Thank you everyone for taking the time this morning to have a conversation with us about Secretary Esper’s trip to Europe.  As you know, he’s traveling to Paris tomorrow, or tonight actually, after spending today in London where he’s meeting with senior officials here in the UK.  He very much looks forward to meeting his counterparts in Paris.

The purpose of this trip is really for him to have the opportunity to build relationships with key partners and allies in the region, and particularly with is counterparts in Paris.  He’s bringing a message of policy consistency in the United States, particularly a focus on our National Defense Strategy and the priorities that it entails, in particular, long-term strategic competition with China in particular, but also with China.  But a key part, as you know, of our National Defense Strategy is our building and growing the strength of our relationships with our allies and partners.  Those are the key priorities for the Secretary, just like it was for previous Secretaries recently, and he intends to do all he can to ensure that our relationship with France, that is already strong, continues to grow and that France remains a partner of choice for the United States, and we look forward to hearing from his counterparts about key national security priorities for France, but also what we can be doing to support each other as we look at these mutual challenges that we share.

With that, I’m really looking forward to your questions, so I wanted to have this opportunity to see what’s on your minds as we look forward to coming to France tonight.

Question:  I just wanted to know if you will raise a question with your counterparts in London and in Paris about the negotiations of a new INF Treaty.  I think President Trump said that he wanted to include China.  And do you think that it will be necessary to include Europe in the new treaty?

And then, with the discussions also about New START that will come to an end in 2021 if I’m correct, and are the U.S. ready to open discussions with Russia also on the question?

Senior Defense Official:  We, of course, continually speak with our allies about going forward in light of the INF Treaty, our withdrawal from the Treaty.  I think it’s important to always highlight again that the alliance is very unified in recognizing that the INF Treaty was violated by the Russians, that it was no longer compatible with our security interests to stay in the treaty while Russia refused to meet its commitments.

The United States is looking at what conventional capabilities would be necessary to continue the defense of the United States, and we are at NATO having ongoing conversations with what NATO needs to do to ensure their security, our collective security in light of the Russians’ consistent violations.

Unfortunately, I think it’s premature at this stage to discuss ongoing diplomatic discussions or potential future treaty negotiations.  I would, in particular, need to defer to my State Department colleagues on the current thinking on future treaty arrangements.  I do think it’s important to highlight again that the NATO alliance was unified in recognizing that it was no longer consistent with our national security interests to remain in a treaty that the Russians consistently violated.

Unfortunately, I have to defer the New START question equally to my State Department colleagues.  I do just want to highlight that we remain committed to our treaty obligations as long as those who are in the treaty with us remain committed to theirs as well.

Question:  I just wanted to know where we are with the Gulf Protection Naval Force?  If I understand, the British were more willing to directly be involved with the Americans.  The French want some sort of a European thing working with the Americans but not part of it. Can you just fill us in on the details as to where we are on it?

Senior Defense Official:  We remain focused on ensuring the freedom of navigation in a vital chokepoint of the world.  I think we appreciate Britain’s participation with their vessel as well as their ability to coordinate and help us with our priority information-sharing which is a big part of this effort.

I just want to highlight again that from our perspective we see this as distinct from, and separate and apart from, our State Department led pressure campaign against Iran.  This is really about ensuring maritime security and freedom of navigation on which all of our economies depend.  And that is probably the main message that we are bringing to our counterparts in France when discussing this initiative.  We recognize that France has an interest in participating in freedom, bringing freedom of navigation capabilities to the Gulf, and we will be looking to find ways to harness and use that interest to better coordinate with our own initiative.

We are seeing increased interest from more than just the British. I don’t want to necessarily speak on behalf of other partners that are either about to join or have joined, but I do think we see this initiative not only having success in the sense of partner nations joining, but also actually bringing security and calm to a very vital region.

Question:  The UK there’s been dialogue between France and Britain, not in public, about France actually not just participating in this maritime security effort, but playing the lead role on the Europe side.

I just wanted to know if you’re encouraging that.  Do you think that France has the capability to be able to lead a European-led maritime security element in the Gulf which would obviously be in cooperation with the U.S.?  And kind of what sort of things will you be looking for from France on that?

Senior Defense Official:  From the Department’s perspective, France has a very capable and successful Navy that we think could bring capability to the region to help, again, to ensure freedom of navigation.

I think technologically or capability-wise in order for it to be successful, there will have to be coordination amongst our navies in the region, so we will be looking into what we can do to better coordinate and bring our militaries together in a way that multiples the capability in the region.  Recognizing that, again, the capability that France has is significant, but I do think they will, and they can play a leadership role.  But I think that they will need to be in coordination with United States capabilities in the region.

Question: Will be the Syrian file on the table during the visit?  And it will be great to have an idea on where we are on the safe zone because there has been some murmurs about the participation of Europe in this fight.

Senior Defense Official:  We refer to it as our security mechanism with Turkey.  Our key priority right now is ensuring continued dialogue and implementation of the agreement that we already have, and we are seeing successes to date.  We have opened the joint cell in Turkey already and that is operationalized, and we also have conducted joint reconnaissance missions with our Turkish colleagues.  And we are continuing to look forward to implementing future steps as we highlight to the Turks that we take very seriously their security interests in the region, at the same time protecting our ongoing need to conduct the de-ISIS campaign in northeast Syria.

I’m certain that with our French colleagues the activities and the current situation in Syria will be a topic of conversation and we will be interested in hearing from the French side on their perspective for European security, of maintaining a security mechanism with Turkey that ensures the security not only of Syria but also of Turkey and therefore Europe as well.

Question:  European defense is a tomorrow a hot topic and I was wondering how do you see this topic of European defense?

And how do you see the role of NATO in the context of the creation of the European Army?

Senior Defense Official:  This is something that the Department of Defense has consistently discussed with particularly our French counterparts.  I know it was a topic of conversation when Secretary Mattis visited with President Macron and Minister Parly when he was the Secretary.  And we’ll continue to bring our perspective, which is that European security still depends on the transatlantic alliance and that any capabilities that are developed within non-NATO European contexts, whether that be EU or otherwise, needs to be compatible and non-duplicative with NATO.

We do see positive signs of the efforts within Europe to build greater capability and capacity.  We, of course, think it’s important to continue discussing the importance of increased defense spending, but that spending is really tied to specific requirements, and that is what is required for the alliance to defend — to deter and, if necessary, defend itself.  

We are very focused on readiness.  The Secretary, especially after having served as Secretary of the Army where he was very focused on ensuring the readiness of U.S. Army forces, he’s bringing that perspective particularly into Europe and to NATO to ensure that we can do all we can to encourage our European partners to develop ready and capable forces so that we can deter, and if necessary, defend ourselves against any aggression.

So, we do see positive signs in the energy within Europe to do more in the defense sphere, but we think it’s very important that these initiatives remain consistent and compatible with NATO.  For example, we think some of the PESCO Initiatives, which is really the Military Mobility Initiative that is one of our foundational projects within Europe, is moving forward in a way that’s consistent with NATO requirements and capabilities, and therefore good for both NATO and for Europe.  And we would like further projects to have the same perspective.

Question:  The new alliance between the U.S. and the European countries to protect the Gulf region and about any kind of role to Egypt to participate in this alliance ?

Senior Defense Official:  I think in terms of what we’re seeing already is the United States and the UK have already brought capabilities to increase security in the Gulf.

In terms of Egypt’s role, I think of course you have a very important strategic participation in the region, and we very much appreciate at a bilateral level all that Egypt and the United States do together, particularly to counter mutual threats such as terrorism in the region.  And we would always be looking for what Egypt can do to bring stability to the region.

Question:  Can you clarify the stance of the U.S. government on the French initiative to open a credit line to Iran?  And especially given the news out of Tehran this morning that Tehran has reported announced to cease all their nuclear commitments under the JCPOA.

Senior Defense Official:  I’m going to, for the specifics of the credit mechanism, defer to our State Department comments that we continue to believe that we need to be enforcing our sanctions to the maximum extent possible.  We believe that the maximum pressure campaign, which is again an economic- and diplomatic-led effort, is intended to bring Iran back to the negotiating table so that we can develop a new and better deal for the security in the region.

I do believe, as our President and Secretary of State have said, that we are willing to negotiate without conditions, that in the near term we are still, we hope that Iran will take up that offer and we can bring Iran back to the negotiating table and avoid further aggression in the region.

Question: You suggested that the Defense Secretary will discuss Russia with his European partners.  I was just wondering what particular topics are going to come up, and whether the issue of Ukraine is going to be discussed ?

Senior Defense Official:  As our department has been clear, we believe that Russia’s activities in the region and around the world continues to be one of our priorities for the department, and so we will be discussing, and have been discussing, with our closest allies ways to encourage and improve our defense capabilities as an alliance in particular to deter further Russian aggression.

I think, coming after in particular the Salisbury chemical weapons attack, where we had very unified and joint international efforts to show — to highlight that such behavior is incompatible with the world system, we will continue to discuss with our partners how we can jointly improve our mutual security.

Of course, ongoing aggression in Ukraine continues to be a key aspect of our discussions and we continue to talk both at bilateral levels and at an alliance level about how we can be encouraging better behavior by Russia.

Question: I just wanted to know whether you’ll be discussing the French military operations in the Sahel and whether you’ll be bringing the sort of assurances to the French and Americans will continue to provide logistical and Afghanistan support for their mission there ?

Senior Defense Official:  We recognize the high priority of the Sahel to France, and we appreciate French leadership in the region.  In fact, I just visited Mali a few months ago and was able to talk to commanders in the field, both French as well as U.S., EU, and the UN effort there.  It’s quite an international effort to try and bring stability and security to the region.

The Department of Defense most definitely recognizes, again, the importance of the region, and security of the region to the French in particular, and we’ll always be looking for ways that we can continue our cooperation and coordination on these mutual security interests.

I think the Secretary’s going to be most interested in hearing from the French directly how they feel the operations are going and what more can be done to bring, again, to bring stability to what is a very important region.

Senior Defense Official:  I would just like to thank everybody for your time.  This is a very important trip for Secretary Esper to highlight once again the importance of these key relationships to the United States, but also to NATO.

I did want to highlight, to the question specifically about Ukraine funding, which I don’t think I answered, we are deferring all those answers to OMB in the United States.  They are available to answer that question.

In the case of North Macedonia, Russia was widely exposed as conducting malign activity and malicious cyber behavior to disrupt the referendum on the Prespa Agreement and their path to NATO membership said Major General Kirk W. Smith.

From a military perspective, the best way to counter these challenges is to demonstrate that our respective forces are ready, lethal, and able to work together as a combined joint force. What’s more, we need to make clear our relationships consist of more than just words, and we will continue to reinforce them at venues like this across Europe regularly every year.

This and similar exercises and events represent clear proof of the value that NATO and allies can bring to the Republic of North Macedonia in these challenging times. Coming from a country that is about to joint NATO and become a full member, I could not ask for a better opportunity to strengthen and establish the relationships from the deployments and training as a partner, and deepen and increase those relations, trust and our ability to work together as we are studying to become an ally.

Both Ottoman tradition and Slavic heritage provide us with the leverage to understand the complexity and dynamics among the asymmetric and near-peer threats to NATO coming from south and east , Brig. Gen. Hadji-Janev said.

Below is a full rush transcript of the press conference by  Major General Kirk W. Smith (USAF)Commander, Special Operations Command – Europe (SOCEUR) and Brigadier General Metodi Hadji-Janev Special Operations Commander Army of the Republic of North Macedonia.

Maj. Gen. Smith:  Thank you for taking the time this afternoon with us, I’m U.S. Air Force Major General Kirk Smith, Commander of U.S. Special Operations Command Europe.  In my current role I have responsibility for the employment of all U.S. Special Operations Force (SOF) forces in Europe across 51 countries in the U.S. European Command area of responsibility.

I also provide counsel on matters pertaining to Special Operations to the Commander of U.S. European Command, General Wolters, and his staff.

Earlier today General Hadji-Janev had the opportunity to observe training here at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center and we spoke to some of the 5,000 soldiers here from 21 allied and partner nations taking part in that training.  

Our focus at SOCEUR ranges from the ability to rapidly respond to a crisis, strengthening relationship with allies and partners, and bringing unique Special Operations capabilities to the overall joint force.  An exercise like Combined Resolve provides us with a venue to demonstrate our capability and get better at all three of those focus areas.

No nation can face today’s challenges alone, and we’ve seen from recent conflicts we’re stronger as an alliance and as a coalition.  In a complex environment against a near-peer adversary, Special Operations are an integrate support effort to a much larger combined joint warfighting picture.  

Every time U.S. Army Europe puts together an exercise like Combined Resolve, it’s a vital opportunity for U.S. SOF and the SOF of our allies and partners to work alongside the conventional force, train together, refine our techniques and procedures, and build and mature our relationships.  To that effort, we have a team embedded here at JMRC [Joint Multinational Readiness Center] that helps develop the scenarios and bring in U.S., NATO and partner SOF to ensure we’re providing training that integrates SOF and the conventional forces.  In Combined Resolve XII alone we have Bulgarian, Ukrainian, and U.S. Special Operations Forces working together along with National Defense Forces of Lithuania.

I’ve said before that what happens in places like Afghanistan doesn’t stay there.  The relationships that we build from combat or peacekeeping operations stay with us.  They deepen and increase trust and our ability to work together.  We must, however, keep them fresh and build on them through exercises like this.  In fact, this is the second time in two months that I’ve had the opportunity to observe General Hadji-Janev’s Special Operations forces alongside ours, other NATO allies, and partners — the first being in Hungary in late June as part of our command’s Trojan Footprint South exercise.

In particular, North Macedonian forces, both SOF and conventional, have been strong contributors to NATO missions in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo.  They have deployed around 4,000 soldiers since 2002 in total.  They are a very capable and professional force.  I look forward to continued opportunities for our forces to work together, particularly as they complete the NATO accession process.

As we look across Europe, we see that our adversaries are challenging national sovereignty, our alliances and partnerships, and the commitment of the United States to Europe.  In the case of North Macedonia, Russia was widely exposed as conducting malign activity and malicious cyber behavior to disrupt the referendum on the Prespa Agreement and their path to NATO membership.

From a military perspective, the best way to counter these challenges is to demonstrate that our respective forces are ready, lethal, and able to work together as a combined joint force.  What’s more, we need to make clear our relationships consist of more than just words, and we will continue to reinforce them at venues like this across Europe regularly every year.

Brig. Gen. Hadji-Janev:  I’m Brigadier General Hadji-Janev, the Commander of the Republic of North Macedonia Special Operation Regiment.  I am responsible for the readiness and deployment of North Macedonia’s Special Operations forces in peace, crisis, and war.

This and similar exercises and events represent clear proof of the value that NATO and allies can bring to the Republic of North Macedonia in these challenging times.  Coming from a country that is about to joint NATO and become a full member, I could not ask for a better opportunity to strengthen and establish the relationships from the deployments and training as a partner, and deepen and increase those relations, trust and our ability to work together as we are studying to become an ally.

As Major General Smith mentioned earlier, he and I observed the training here at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center which allowed me to learn more from the first hand that my SF operators can meet required rigorous criteria in a future engagement.  Moreover, I had the opportunity to witness that working with allies improves our readiness and ability to fight but also on a long-run engagement like this, among others, ensure our stability and security.  Put differently, Exercise Combined Resolve for us provides a venue to test and improve our Special Operations capability integrated with conventional forces metrics and priorities.  We learn from each other, build a brothers-in-arms type of network, and improve our ability to fight in a coalition.

Rest assured that we in the Republic of North Macedonia are totally aware that we are a small nation and that we don’t have all of the resources, mass, or firepower that some of our allies have.  However, from the past deployment with NATO, we’ve proved that we can bring two important elements to the fight.  

The contemporary security environment is complex and unpredictable, filled with hybrid and asymmetric-based threat vectors which uniquely endanger Euro-Atlantic values and thus threatened our security and stability.  Human capital and cross-cultural competencies have proven so far that while the key requirements for the operators on the ground in confronting these challenges.  Both Ottoman tradition and Slavic heritage provide us with the leverage to understand the complexity and dynamics among the asymmetric and near-peer threats to NATO coming from south and east.

At the end, I would like to assure you that we will stay committed to future engagement and prove that our relationships consist of more than just words.

Thank-you all for taking the time from your day to speak with us here in Hohenfels.

Question :  What role were Special Operations Forces playing in the exercise?

Maj. Gen. Smith:  I’ll start, Major General Smith.

As I mentioned in some of the comments at the beginning, what’s really important about this is the SOF, and in this case, U.S. SOF working with partners’ and allies’ SOF and specifically how do we integrate that in to what the conventional forces are doing.  So SOF has always had niche capabilities, things that we are specially trained in doing, whether that’s some type of reconnaissance or observation, and then we can tie that back into the conventional force.  That’s where we look for opportunities like this, Combined Resolve, where we have the opportunity to not just work with U.S. conventional forces, but to work with our allies and partners’ SOF and then with the allies and partner conventional forces that are participating as well.  Thank you.

Question:  How does the exercise for North Macedonia fit into the preparation to become a member? I saw that Kosovo is one of the participating countries.  I was wondering what their role is ?

Brig. Gen. Hadji-Janev:  This is Brigadier General Hadji-Janev speaking.  As it comes to North Macedonia, this exercise actually is a great value because it contributes to our interoperability, readiness, and integration with NATO allies.  And when it comes specifically to the Special Operations regimen, it helps us in building capacity, working along with the conventional forces and with the alliance Special Operations Forces.

Maj. Gen. Smith:  Major General Smith.  To follow up on the Kosovo question, they are a participant on the conventional side, not on the SOF side.  And I think it probably just goes to, again, some of the opening comments that any opportunity for allies and partners to work together, interoperability, understand each other’s tactics, techniques, and procedures, builds a stronger partnership and a lot of this is really always about building relationships in this type of a phase, in this type of an environment where we can learn lessons and improve upon those. 

Question: From a military perspective could it be wise to send more U.S. troops in the East to ensure credible deterrence against Russia?

Maj. Gen. Smith:  At the military-to-military level where I kind of stay engaged, we obviously in SOCEUR have a presence throughout all of Europe.  Some of that is episodic, some of that is more permanent in terms of a rotational form, if you will.  

We are engaged with U.S. European Command as they work through with our Department of Defense and with the government of Poland on what that final posture may look like in Poland, and we’re part of that conversation.  But really, from my perspective, we see the value of where we have forces spread throughout Europe.  Sometimes it may be for a couple of weeks at a time.  Sometimes it may be for months at a time based on who we’re working with and what effects we’re trying to have.

Question:  What’s Turkey’s role in Exercise Combined Resolve?  And if you have any sort of information on the current Russian interference in North Macedonian policies and politics ?

Maj. Gen. Smith:  I’ll answer the first piece.  Turkey is not participating in this exercise.  But within Special Operations Command-Europe we continue to always engage in our mil-to-mil relationship and we look for opportunities and have been working with the Turkish SOF community on future opportunities to do the exact same thing while not in this particular exercise, but we’ll work on interoperability.

I’ll leave the second question for General Hadji-Janev.

Brig. Gen. Hadji-Janev:  Thank you.  General Hadji-Janev speaking.

As it comes to Russian interference in North Macedonia, I would say it is hard to prove of any direct involvement in terms of an intervention.  However, there are many evidences that Russia has exploited diplomatic channels, but more vigorously explaining information channels via several proxy media that are very active on our different social platforms on-line in order to create a narrative, and both exploiting different challenges and vulnerabilities against Euro-Atlantic integration.

I believe that answers your question.

Question:  Do you have any indication when the ratification protocol for NATO will be completed in the Congress?  And if the membership of North Macedonia in December not happen because of the situation in Spain, when will be the next chance for that? 

Maj. Gen. Smith:  A little bit outside of kind of my expertise.  My understanding is it continues through the process within our government, and that we kind of continue to follow that and stay engaged.  To be honest with you, at the military-to-military relationship, we continue those engagements through exercises like this as that process continues.

Question:  How many troops from North Macedonia will take part in the exercise?  Or are taking part in the exercise?

Brig. Gen. Hadji-Janev:  We have about 50 personnel that is part of this exercise coming from North Macedonia.

Question:  Are there any Russian reactions to the advancing interoperability of the North Macedonia Armed Forces of NATO?  And what is the role of Greece in that cooperation?

Brig. Gen. Hadji-Janev:  Thank-you very much.  General Hadji-Janev speaking.  

I think I answered first about Russian interference with North Macedonian political and military affairs.  

And I refer to the second part, after the political leaders of both countries resolved the main issue, basically opened the door for mil-to-mil cooperation and operation cooperation.  And just an example, earlier in June this year, Greek Special Operation Forces had the opportunity to see from firsthand about the readiness and ability to cooperate, so we, with my host, the Greek Special Operations Forces Commander, we have great talks and discuss future cooperation and engagement which basically promised a lot in strengthening our partnership to NATO.

Question:  What does this exercise mean for the whole region, especially for Kosovo?

Maj. Gen. Smith:  I think, this is Major General Smith speaking, so I think what the exercise does is it highlights the, again, the idea that as an alliance we are more successful, we are more cooperative when we contribute and participate in exercises like this.  It shows how we can work with each other and play off of each other’s strengths.  Some nations obviously have some capabilities that others don’t.  As General Hadji-Janev mentioned earlier, some nations have more capacity than others, and the ability to bring all of those different nations together, leverage those that have a particular skill or particular capacity in a certain area, and it just collectively brings the region, in this case, more secure by showing a united front.

Question: Do you think that there is a discipline or ethics problem in the SEAL units?  Is the relative lack of money in UK and Australian Special Forces compared to JSOC likely to limit operational compatibility?

Maj. Gen. Smith:  On the second part first, again, Major General Smith, I’m not really qualified.  I’d probably defer that to the UK Ministry of Defence or Australian Defence Ministry on terms of how they view that.

For the first part of the question, U.S. Special Operations Command has undertaken an in-depth study of the culture and ethics within SOF.  We participate in that as a subordinate organization of both European Command and U.S. Special Operations Command, and I would probably defer any specific information they’re looking for to U.S. Special Operations Command.

Maj. Gen. Smith:  No, thank-you very much for the time, everybody.  We appreciate you participating.  Thank-you.

Brig. Gen. Hadji-Janev:  Brigadier General Hadji-Janev speaking.  Thank you all for taking the time for you to speak with us, and share our thoughts.

US Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) has been preparing to base F-35 Joint Strike Fighters in the UK through a series of activities with NATO countries, its commander has said.

General Jeffrey Harrigian, commander of USAFE, Air Forces Africa, and NATO’s Allied Air Command (AIRCOM), told journalists during a telephone briefing on 13 August that the deployment of a squadron of US Air Force F-35s to Europe “allowed us to integrate this fifth generation platform into various exercises and training sorties with our allies and partners. 

These opportunities enhanced our overall ability to increase interoperability between US F-35s, allied F-35s, and fourth generation platforms, which ultimately will allow for seamless integration of our F-35s in Europe when they permanently arrive at RAF Lakenheath in 2021.”

Below is a full rush transcript of the press conference by General Jeffrey L. Harrigian Commander, USAFE-AFAFRICA

General Harrigian:  Thank you, Everything in USAFE-AFAFRICA revolves around our people with a focus on readiness, our posture and our partnerships.  These three priorities support our National Defense Strategy and our friends and allies across Europe and Africa.

Readiness is the bedrock of our resilient and capable Air Force.  By leveraging multi-domain cross-functional exercises aimed at maintaining a sharp combat edge, we are preparing our airmen for the most demanding military scenarios.

This summer, airmen across USAFE-AFAFRICA have been engaged in a variety of exercises that are integral to enhancing our readiness and partnerships throughout our area of responsibility.  In particular, this summer, the Air Force deployed a squadron of F-35s to Europe as part of a theater security package.  Having F-35s on the continent allowed us to integrate this 5^th generation platform into various exercises and training sorties with our allies and partners.  These opportunities enhanced our overall ability to increase interoperability between U.S. F-35s, ally F-35s and 4^th generation platforms which ultimately will allow for seamless integration of our F-35s in Europe when they permanently arrive at RAF Lakenheath in 2021.

Specifically, there are two major events that allowed us to integrate the F-35.  The first being Astral Night.  Astral Night was a joint multinational integrated air and missile defense exercise that involved the U.S., Italy, Croatia and Slovenia.  The exercise allowed us to practice integrated air and missile defense for the first time in Europe and was a massive success.

Additionally, we made enormous progress with our Italian F-35 counterparts by advancing the F-35 programs for both the U.S. and Italy through interoperability missions over European airspace.  Continuing opportunities to operate this platform together paves the way forward for integrating 5^th generation assets into multi-domain operations across the globe.

Our second major event was Operation Rapid Forge.  So Rapid Forge was an exercise that was USAFE-led and a mission that enhanced our ability to function at locations other than our main operating bases.  During this operation we demonstrated our ability to rapidly deploy F-15Es and F-35 aircraft out of Spangdahlem Airbase to forward locations in Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.  

By executing these operations, we were able to execute the dynamic force employment, demonstrating our ability to flexibly use forces and respond to contingencies while making our activities operationally unpredictable to our adversaries.  Not only did this operation improve our readiness but it also increased the interoperability of the force and enhanced relations with our allies and partners.

USAFE-AFAFRICA faces a dynamic and challenging operational environment that requires us to adapt and create a resilient command and control architecture to meet the military needs of today and tomorrow.  This environment is shaped by numerous ever-changing demands, and these changing demands cause corresponding adaptations in our National Defense Strategy — a strategy that has focused on countering violent extremist organizations to one that also deters near peer competitors.

We are postured and ready today to compete and are working to disrupt the adversaries’ decision cycle.  We leverage our command and control architectures to enhance the resilience of both NATO and our coalition partnerships.  This allows us to delegate execution of operation with plans to seamlessly operate in an integrated command and control environment.  However, we could never be ready and postured to respond in Europe and Africa if it weren’t for the strategic relationships we have with our allies and partners.  

Because of these relationships, we’re able to undertake exercises and operations that increase our overall readiness and posture across our two theaters.  Specifically, in Africa we continue to build and enhance partnerships across the continent through events like the African Partnership Flight and the African Air Chiefs Symposium, both of which will be taking place in the very near future.

Building partnerships is a journey and these two premier events in Africa that continue year after year enhance our relationships, capabilities and ensures that we build trust and confidence across our teams.

I remain focused on continuing the momentum we have built to leverage those relationships with our partners and allies, to ensure their capabilities and expertise enhances the readiness, posture and air capabilities provided by USAFE-AFAFRICA.  

The challenges of today and tomorrow require that our airmen be ready to respond as a joint coalition and multinational team in a multi-domain environment.  I’m committed to ensuring that our airmen have the resources they need to effectively carry out the mission, compete and win.  Our airmen are creative, adaptive, and capable of rapidly making decisions, and it is our people who are enhancing our readiness posture and partnerships every day.

Lastly, I would like to thank each and every one of you for what you do every day. I know as journalists you bring transparency, accountability, and connect our Air Force with the American people, your people, and our international audiences.  You allow us to share our successes, challenges and the remarkable men and women that make up our Air Force.

Thank you for your time, and I look forward to any questions you may have.  Back to you, Vanessa.

Question:  President Trump announced earlier this summer that the U.S. will send upwards of 1,000 troops to Poland from Germany.  Do you expect to see an expansion of the U.S. Air Force mission in Poland?  And if so, when, where, and by how many airmen and/or aircraft?

General Harrigian:  I think it’s important that we recognize how strongly we value our partnership with our Polish teammates, the nation and its armed forces.  It’s important as you look back in history to understand that we share a deep bond that culturally ties us together with our shared values and importantly, from an operational perspective, we have our shared experiences in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Right now, in Poland the U.S. Air Force has a presence that includes an aviation detachment operating out of Lask.  This is where we are training Polish C-130 pilots and their maintainers, along with F-16 fighters that operate out of there on an episodic basis.

Further, we have an MQ-9 detachment that’s down in Miroslawiec Air Base which is responsible for providing ISR.  Right now, that det is actually down in Romania due to some construction that is ongoing with the runway at Miroslawiec.

At this point we continue to support our regional partners with these operations but the department has not made specific decisions on the exact locations or mission sets that could deploy to Poland.  We are working closely with our partners to continue these discussions moving forward, and we continue to greatly appreciate the offer.  We look forward to working with them as the decisions are made, but at this point it would be appropriate to direct the specific questions back to OSD who has the next level of detail.

Question:  In the last two years the U.S. and Greece have been strengthening their strategic cooperation.  Is there any possibility in the near future to expand bilateral agreements between the two countries?

General Harrigian:  I think as we view Greece, it’s important to look through the lens of the valued partner that they are to us and the strong commitment that collectively we have to regional security in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea region.  We will always continue to look for opportunities that allow us to strengthen our defense relationship and we do that primarily through joint exercises and training, very similar to the exercise that we executed with them this past year, Iniohos.

I can tell you personally that I’ve met with the Chief of Defense and the Air Chief and we are taking diligent steps to the planning for the exercise that will occur in 2020, the next iteration of Iniohos, where again we will work closely with our Greek partners to focus on those tactics, training, and exercises that we do to enhance our ability to operate together.

Question:  The NATO Secretary General said in his press conference held for the INF withdrawal that he raised the possibility of combat aircraft having a role in ballistic missile defense, but I’m not quite clear what that means.  It could be ISR, I suppose.  I doubt it would be shooting down missiles, but the other possibility that comes to mind is maybe counter-force, basically hitting missile sites.

And then on alliance ground surveillance, there seems to have been a delay there in the operational capability.  So when is the IO, the initial operational capability planned now?  And when is the full operational capability planned for AGS?

General Harrigian:  Thanks for that. Let me first discuss a little bit about missile defense across NATO and clearly, the Secretary General’s point here is given the withdrawal as he views the threat and we go forward here, the focus has been largely on ballistic missile defense and how we defend our nations in particular from those particular threats out there.  As we look forward to integrated air and missile defense, this is where collectively, again from a defense perspective, we would leverage combat aircraft that would be integrated to a broader system of systems that would allow us to ensure as we look at potential threats that are being developed, as you look 360 around the NATO area of responsibility, that we would need to be prepared to defend ourselves.  So clearly we want to leverage every sensor that would be available to us and those sensors would naturally include combat aircraft.

So as nations continue to refine those capabilities, the goal would be to integrate those into that family of systems that allows us to have the appropriate indications and warning, that then would facilitate our ability to defend ourselves and appropriately be postured to protect all those that would be considered an area that we would be responsible for. So that’s how I would see that moving forward.

Relative to your air-ground surveillance question, we continue to plan for the IOC.  That date has not changed.  We’re continuing to stay focused on that.  And while there naturally are challenges in any acquisition program, I think there’s been great work done in terms of the relationship with the defense contractors, and we continue to stay closely aligned with them to share information so as being able to achieve that IOC and ultimately the FOC dates that we’ve published.

Question:  One thing is the ongoing Russian naval and air operations in the North Atlantic.  Some experts believe the scenario the Russians are training for is how to cut off the supply chains between Europe and the U.S. over the Atlantic.  How would you characterize the ongoing Russian operations in the North Atlantic?  The second one is, how important do you consider the Norwegian air base at [Andøya] to be for enabling a satisfactory allied air presence in the Arctic and North Atlantic?

General Harrigian:  The first one I would respond to you with the observation that clearly the activity that the Russians have had ongoing, the exercise that they’ve been pursuing here over the last couple of weeks has been one that we’ve been closely monitoring and continue to ensure that we are postured appropriately for our defense, and in this situation have leveraged it to gain a better understanding of their participation in operations up there and their attempt to leverage both maritime and air activity.

So I would offer to you that this has demonstrated to us that we are in a good position to gain the appropriate indications and warnings of their activities while at the same time using this exercise, at least from our perspective, to be in the appropriate position to monitor the activities and appropriately defend ourselves should that situation ever arise.

That really is how we’re viewing it and we’re going to continue to watch this and use this as an opportunity for us to understand how they’re envisioning any of their potential operations up in an area that is critically important to all of us, that region being the Arctic and up there in the North Sea.

And let me segue into your question on the Norwegian air base.  First I would tell you that the Norwegians are a tremendous partner to us and our work, particularly as it relates to interoperability with the F-35 and the leveraging of their facilities for our collective defense has been nothing short of outstanding.  And what I would highlight to you is that in this last couple of months we’ve actually done some interoperability work with our Norwegian partners whereby we’ve taken F-35s up to Norwegian air bases and had the Norwegians actually service our airplanes and turn them and then get them back in the air.  I think that is a tangible demonstration of the interoperability that the F-35 brings to our collective force in NATO.

Question:  Recent research told British Broadcasting last week that NATO is provoking Russia with big exercises after Trident Juncture last year and also American soldiers on Norwegian soil.  How do you see the potential for a crisis in the Arctic region as the situation is now with Russia?

General Harrigian: As I mentioned, the Arctic remains a critically important area for all of us, and the goal for I would offer to you every nation is to keep that area secure, keep it stable and ensure that we have the freedom of navigation and passage that is required for all nations.

In support of that, we remain closely aligned with our Norwegian, and actually probably better stated, our Nordic partners that are great partners for us as we continue to monitor all the Russian activity that is ongoing.

As I’ve said, this latest exercise has been one that we’ve closely monitored over the course of the last couple of weeks and as you stated, it’s ongoing.  And I would tell you that our awareness and ability to track all that activity is very good.  We’ve been in a very good position to ensure that we have our forces properly postured.

At this particular point, I’m not at all concerned about escalation.  I would tell you that our airmen are highly trained.  They understand specifically what our mission set is there in terms of executing air policing and how we do that.

Concerning any provocation of the Russians and what that might mean from a Russian perspective, I would tell you that our goal is to be prepared to defend ourselves and deter any Russian activity, and I would offer to you that our demonstrated ability to provide the defense through the exercises that we’ve executed over the course of the last several months has demonstrated that we’re here to defend ourselves and deter, with all of us having the ultimate goal of ensuring the stability and security of the region for all the citizens that live in and across not only the Nordic region but also here in Europe.

Question:  Should France and Germany join Team Tempest?  And perhaps you could also provide some context about Team Tempest.

General Harrigian:  Certainly. Well, I can’t get into the specifics of exactly what the UK is doing with Tempest, I do know that it’s intent on building a next generation air dominance-type platform and frankly, from my perspective, there is huge value in seeing our partners and our allies and particularly the important partners that are looking at joining this team investing and developing capabilities that ultimately will provide in the defense of their nations and across Europe.

Ultimately, those capabilities will be interoperable with the team of nations that are invested in defending Europe and from a U.S. perspective in particular, I certainly desire the competition that this will drive in terms of delivering capabilities that will ultimately improve and facilitate the ability of our warfighters to compete, deter and win should we have to in any type of situation.

So at the end of the day this program, and developing capabilities that will enhance the capabilities of our coalition, I think is incredibly important and will in the future facilitate interoperable tactics and procedures that will facilitate the defense of Europe and this region.

Question:  It’s Jennifer, Stars and Stripes.  And my question is about Turkey.  I was wondering, have you seen any moves by Turkey to restrict or limit U.S. access to Incirlik given Turkey’s removal from the F-35 program and the threat of economic sanctions by Washington?  Is it something that you’re planning for or concerned about?

General Harrigian:  At this point we remain very focused on our military-to-military relationships, and those relationships remain very strong.  Having just talked with my wing commander at Incirlik, his relationship with the Turkish wing out there remains incredibly strong and they continue, the Turkish Air Force continues to support us in great fashion.

So at this particular point I have no worries whatsoever about any impact to our operations there at Incirlik, and frankly, I look forward to continuing to work through the situation, recognizing there will be some overarching, more broad, political issues that will be worked at that level.  But at our level, at the military level, we remain very close with our Turkish partners and I see no change in that going forward.

General Harrigian:  I would just like to thank again the team for being on the phone today.  As I highlighted at the beginning here, we are really focused on ensuring that through our people we’re in the proper readiness position along with the appropriate posture. And as I highlighted today, the importance of partnerships and the relationships that we have across the region, whether it be in Europe or down in Africa remain the bedrock of how we do business.