NATO headquarters in Brussels hosted last 12-13 April the 10th meeting of NATO’s Civil Consultation, Command and Control Board/Spectrum Capability Panel 3 (C3B CaP3). The meeting was co-chaired by Richard Barfoot (NATO C3S1) and Didier Chauveau (Agence Nationale des Fréquences). Portugal was represented by its Armed Forces General Staff and ANACOM.
In the scope of the Atlantic Alliance’s defence capacities, the CaP3 group’s aim is to make sufficient spectrum resources available to:
(i) ensure that NATO military forces have suitable spectrum access to fulfil their mission,
(ii) harmonise military use of radio frequencies among NATO allies and,
(iii) cooperate with countries of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council/Partnership for Peace with a view to using radio spectrum in an identical manner.
Various subjects were discussed during the tenth CaP3 meeting, of which the two main ones stand out:
- World Radiocommunication Conferences
Results of the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-15), held last 2-27 November 2015 in Geneva, were presented in light of analysis done by the military community in CaP3 in exclusively military session. Complementary to this, positive aspects of the procedure followed were highlighted and aspects that can be improved for the next conference in 2019 (WRC-19) determined.
With respect to the start of WRC-19 preparatory work, several suggestions from the military community were put forward and debated. A highlight was the strong incentive given to drawing up more comprehensive NATO positions, i.e. not limiting them solely to the military view, even when it is not possible to find a common position for some of the WRC-19 agenda points due to the inability to achieve the required civilian/military alignment; those points therefore remain without a defined NATO position. - NATO Joint Frequency Agreement 2014 (NJFA 2014)
The NJFA 2014 underwent the silence procedure in CaP3 following the ninth CaP3 meeting and was next submitted for approval by C3B, the Military Council and finally the North Atlantic Council (NAC). The new NAC-approved version is dated 10 July 2015.
It was agreed that NATO staff will prepare a questionnaire to submit to the nations with a view to compiling relevant information about the implementation of NJFA 2014. Also being considered is the development of a classified supplement to deal with war or crisis situations. Another subject considered and agreed to was the provision of a ‘simplified’ version of the 2014 National Peacetime Frequency Sharing Agreement: although the current version is not confidential, it has not been made publicly available because it concerns information not necessary to the general public; CaP3 will in military session develop a proposal for a ‘simplified’ version of the 2014 Agreement for proposal to Cap3 in civilian/military session.
The CaP3 group’s next meeting in civilian/military session is scheduled for 11-12 October 2016.
