A NATO-Russia Exercise to Take Place in Moscow

, Under the aegis of the NATO-Russia Council (NRC), the Theatre Missile Defence Ad Hoc Working Group (TMD AHWG) will conduct the third joint NATO-Russia TMD Command Post Exercise (CPX) from 16-25 October 2006 at the Russian Simulation Facility located in the Research and Development Center of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation. 
 
The purpose of this third CPX is to validate the Experimental Concept and associated Experimental Concept of Operations (CONOPS) developed by the joint NATO-Russia TMD Ad Hoc Working Group. Over sixty participants from eleven NATO nations and eighty participants from the Russian Federation are going to take part in CPX3. Additional support and participation will be provided by the NATO Military Authorities (NMAs), the International Staff (IS), the tri-national Extended Air Defence Task Force (EADTF) and the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation. (The three nations comprising the EADTF are Germany, the Netherlands and the United States.) 
 
This is the third in a series of joint NATO-Russia TMD exercises. The initial CPX was conducted at the Joint National Integration Center (JNIC) in the United States in 2004. Last year The Netherlands hosted Cooperative Optic Windmill (CPX2) at De Peel Airbase. This third CPX will build on the work conducted previously and be a prelude for a first Field Training Exercise, provisionally scheduled for autumn 2007. 
 
The CPX is a computer-assisted, real time event that focuses on command and control of missile defence forces deployed in a specific theatre of operations. Together with a joint Interoperability Study being conducted under the lead of the NATO C3 Agency (NC3A) and the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, the CPX is expected to provide the basis for future interoperability enhancements. 
 
This is an important step in the practical cooperation between NATO and the Russian Federation as foreseen in the Rome Declaration of 2002.