The sixth meeting of the Civil Consultation, Command and Control Board/Spectrum Capability Panel 3 (NATO C3B CaP 3) was held last 30-31 October at NATO headquarters in Brussels. The gathering was chaired by Rick Barfoot of C3 Staff (NATO C3S) and Stephen Jones of the Office of Communications (OFCOM); representatives from the Armed Forces General Staff and ANACOM participated on behalf of Portugal.
The purpose of the CaP 3 group in the scope of the Atlantic Alliance’s defence capabilities is to provide enough spectrum resources to ensure that NATO military forces have sufficient spectrum access to carry out their mission; to harmonise military radio frequency usage among NATO allies; and to cooperate with countries from the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC)/Partnership for Peace (PfP) with a view to identical radio spectrum usage.
Various subjects were discussed during the sixth CaP 3 meeting, of which the following stand out:
(i) NATO's preliminary military positions for the next World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-15) were reviewed and presented. They were developed in military session – the civilian participants contributed with their opinions during the meeting;
(ii) In a civilian/military session the revised grounds that should orient revision of the tables of the NATO Joint Frequency Agreement (NJFA), which dates to 2002, were presented. They were drafted in military session. Once again there was lengthy debate regarding the new classifications and the applicability of each of the three classes now proposed. The grounds for revision of the NJFA are expected to be consolidated in early 2014. As soon as approved in military session (most likely in February 2014) they will be disclosed by the civilian members with a view to preparing for the next civilian/military session of CaP 3 in May 2014.
The next meeting of the CaP 3 group in civilian/military session has been scheduled for 21-22 May 2014.
