NATO defense ministers on Thursday agreed to revamp the alliance's rapid reaction force so that more troops can be deployed on its longer-term missions, such as Afghanistan, said NATO spokesman James Appathurai.

"The ministers agreed to take forward the discussion on what we call a graduated approach to the NATO Response Force (NRF)," he said.

The ministers endorsed military experts' advice that a smaller core of the NRF should be kept on permanent standby so that allies can have more troops at hand for other missions.

At the same time, a framework is to be put in place through which forces are attached to the core and the numbers can be brought up to the NRF's ultimate size of 25,000, said Appathurai.

Military experts can now elaborate on the exact size of the core of the NRF, he said.

The NATO Response Force was the key topic on the second day of the defense ministers' informal meeting at the Dutch seaside resort of Noordwijk.

The NRF is a technologically advanced rapid reaction force made up of land, air, sea and special force components that can be deployed worldwide within a five-day notice for a variety of operations. The force is based on a system of rotations. NATO member countries commit units to the NRF for a six-month period.


Agencies

Güncelleme Tarihi: 25 Ekim 2007, 17:57