Germany and the Netherlands have agreed to establish a new joint NATO command center that will be responsible for coordinating alliance forces on the eastern flank, including in Latvia and Estonia.
Germany and the Netherlands will establish a joint NATO tactical headquarters this year to coordinate forces on the eastern flank of the alliance and deter Russia. This was reported by the German Ministry of Defense.
The new German-Dutch command center, known as 1GNC, will take on a commanding role in the Baltic region in the coming months, primarily in Latvia and Estonia.
Earlier, Reuters reported that NATO plans to strengthen the defense of the eastern flank and ensure a faster deployment of troops to the Baltic states in the event of a potential conflict with Russia.
Currently, NATO units in the Baltic states and Poland are subordinate to a single command point in Szczecin, Poland. However, the alliance intends to change the command structure in light of the increased strategic importance of the Baltic region. According to one military representative, the creation of an additional corps will allow for a quicker response to threats and compensate for the limited strategic depth of the region, which is considered vulnerable in the event of a military crisis.
In full strength, such a corps could number between 40,000 and 60,000 servicemen, although in peacetime it will mainly consist of command structures and technical units necessary for rapid deployment.
According to Reuters sources, Germany and the Netherlands have already agreed to create a new German-Dutch corps, which will be stationed in Münster, Germany, and focus on the defense of Latvia and Estonia. However, it is not yet specified when exactly the agreement will come into effect and how many servicemen will be under the new command point in the event of a conflict.
The Dutch Ministry of Defense confirmed that work on the project is ongoing but declined to disclose further details.
