RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany -- The European Partnership Integration Enterprise hosted exercise Unified Vision 2023 for 19 NATO allies and partners at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, June 12-23, 2023.
Nearly 60 service members participated in the joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance exercise, which aimed to integrate JISR capabilities and procedures across the alliance, enabling a unified intelligence enterprise for the member and partner nations.
“Unified Vision 23 is driven by the need to address operational and future joint ISR challenges to meet alliance interoperability, federation, synchronization, and future capability requirements,” said U.S. Air Force Col. Jason Lamont, U.S. Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa individual mobilization augmentee to the director of ISR. “This exercise gives the alliance the chance to connect, assess and test capabilities in an exercise environment before needing to use it in a real-world scenario.”
Unified Vision exercises have taken place every three years since 2012, with each iteration expanding on the previous exercise and advancing training objectives. This year’s exercise was designed to assess the status of development of NATO’s JISR capabilities.
In addition to the U.S., participating countries included Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Turkey and the United Kingdom. Senior leaders from each country visited the EPIE to see the exercise in action.
The EPIE is a 20-nation coalition focused on ISR interoperability and enhancing capabilities amongst the U.S. and its allies. Centrally located on Ramstein AB, it allows partners to congregate and execute shared mission sets and training.
“This gives senior level officers a better glimpse of how the activities of Unified Vision 23 and EPIE’s support translate to the warfighter,” said Maj. Darrell Moyers, USAFE-AFAFRICA Coalition ISR Integration Branch chief. “JISR is not just about computers and analysts in an office space, it ensures the information provided from these great enterprises can be delivered to those who need it most in a real time and executable fashion.”
NATO allies and partners routinely serve together, both operationally and during exercises, enhancing relationships in the alliance to ensure timely and coordinated responses in peacetime and crises. Exercises like Unified Vision 23 provide an opportunity for NATO forces to familiarize themselves with other nations’ practices in order to continue delivering air and space power for the betterment of all allies and partners.