NATO Festival celebrates alliance’s cohesion, determination
This year’s annual Norfolk NATO Festival occurs as we mark two anniversaries: the
70th such celebration and the creation, 20 years ago, of Allied Command Transformation. The festival has evolved over time, as has NATO. The first audiences would have spotted 14 different flags and floats, NATO now has 31 members with the addition of Finland this month and we look forward to including Sweden in the near future.
But we have always celebrated the extraordinarily strong connections between the city of Norfolk and the NATO community it has welcomed, nurtured and supported throughout our shared history here. A NATO community that now includes the only two commands on American soil, NATO’s Allied Command Transformation and Joint Force Command, Norfolk.
My staff, military and civilian, have all felt the warm embrace of the people of Hampton Roads, as have our families, in your schools, in your neighborhoods and on your beaches. The festival offers us an opportunity to give back and express our gratitude.
Anniversaries also allow for a moment of reflection, an opportunity to look back at our past and take stock. They also provide a useful starting point for a conversation about our future.
This dialogue between past, present and future is also an important part of Allied Command Transformation’s DNA. We have since our creation, drawn lessons from past and current experiences and operations, in order to identify what challenges and opportunities await NATO and define how best to prepare for them.
That task has become more difficult over time, as our world has grown more complicated and technologies have advanced by leaps and bounds, while a succession of crises have accelerated the pace of change.
We have all seen in our daily lives the impact of these new technologies, such as drones or more recently still, ChatGPT. We have also experienced the effect of sudden shocks such as COVID on our communities and fellow citizens.
On a more somber note and on the military side of things, we recently marked one year of war in Ukraine. The suffering and extraordinary courage under fire of an entire country, following a brutal and unprovoked Russian invasion, continue to impress and inspire.
It has therefore never been more important to sort through the noise, to identify what NATO needs and what it lacks, to imagine new tools and new capabilities in order to ensure that the alliance has what it needs to dissuade potential opponents, and if push comes to shove, defend its members.
In other words, to ensure NATO forces are able to understand better, decide faster and act stronger together, as an alliance.
To do that and to make the most of the great diversity that characterizes our alliance, we have built a strong network, across all member nations, including here in Norfolk with Old Dominion University and others, to gather as many points of view and ideas as possible.
The example of the Ukrainian armed forces is another source for new ideas, in particular their ability to innovate, to remain agile and fight smarter against the brawn of a savage opponent with little regard for civilian casualties.
When Russia illegally annexed Crimea, NATO increased its support to Ukraine, in particular through military training. Following the Russian invasion, at its Madrid summit last summer, NATO agreed to further step up its political and practical support to Ukraine, including the delivery of non-lethal defense equipment and by improving Ukraine’s cyber defenses and resilience.
Simultaneously, individual allies, with the United States in the lead, continue to provide large-scale financial aid and military aid, supplying the brave men and women serving in the Ukrainian armed forces with much-needed equipment, including modern battle tanks.
The war also served to concentrate minds and return NATO to its core function of collective defense. We remain a defensive alliance, one based on a shared commitment to ensuring the peace, freedom and prosperity of its citizens, now numbering almost a billion.
Next year we will mark another important milestone for NATO, as we will celebrate in the United States the 75th anniversary of the signing of the Washington Treaty, which gave birth to our great alliance.
But in the meantime, I look forward to celebrating with you this 70th Norfolk NATO Festival, and the many opportunities it offers to come together, as neighbors, in what we are proud to call NATO’s home in America.
Win as a Team.
French Air and Space Force Gen. Philippe Lavigne is NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Transformation. His command, Allied Command Transformation, is based in Norfolk. He joined the French Air Force Academy in 1985, has accumulated more than 2,800 flight hours and flown 46 combat missions. He is married to Isabella and they have three children. He continues to play rugby, a long-held passion, whose cherished values have inspired his motto: “Win as a Team.”