Today 04 May, the JALLC officially kicked off this year’s NATO Lessons Learned Conference (NLLC). This edition of the event is being hosted by the JALLC in a hybrid format so as to maximize audience participation while at the same time being mindful of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. As such, we welcomed 75 participants on-site, as well as over 330 online attendees.

The JALLC’s Commander, Brigadier-General Bogdan Cernat welcomed participants to the event. He noted that this year’s event was special in three ways: first, the JALLC celebrates its 20th anniversary this year; second, it is his last NLLC as the JALLC’s Commander; and third, because of the special times we find ourselves in after learning to live with COVID 19, an invisible adversary, to facing a visible one, referring to the invasion of Ukraine.

The Commander was followed by Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (DSACT), General Paolo Ruggiero, who reminded the audience of the key role played by the JALLC in enabling the Alliance to increasingly become more efficient and resilient. This intervention offered an opportunity to showcase innovation and new technologies in NATO, as the General addressed the audience from across the Atlantic via a hologram.

Dr. Roberto, Trustee Professor of Management at Bryant University in Smithfield (USA) addressed the audience next. He gave several examples of past instances where lessons were identified too late, and further elaborated on some mechanisms certain private actors employ to mitigate risks as much as possible.

Next, the floor passed to the JALLC’s Principal Operational Research Analyst, Jackie Eaton, who provided an overview of the main successes and challenges the JALLC has encountered in the past two decades.

Colonel Chessari, LL Branch Head at HQ Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT), gave the audience some insights into ongoing and future efforts within the NATO LL Improvement Roadmap.

The first day of the NATO Lessons Learned Conference was a great success. The audience participated throughout the sessions via the chat feature, providing the fuel for the discussions and presentations online. Tomorrow the audience will be able to hear the key takeaways from all four panels: one covering NATO’s Warfighting Capstone Concept and the  Warfare Development Agenda; one covering the Innovation in Support of Lessons Learned; and the last two covering Lessons Learned in Operations and Exercises respectively.

Day 2 of the NATO Lessons Learned Conference looks set to be as interesting and topical as the first.