BUCHAREST, Romania - NATO Force Integration Unit Romania (NFIU ROU) recertified June 19, 2019, demonstrating its capacity to facilitate the rapid deployment of allied troops in Romania.

“Although SABER GUARDIAN 19 is an exercise, it is clear how much the sole presence of the NFIU in Romania and its involvement from the early stages of the planning process and during the execution contributes to the readiness of multinational troops, if they are needed in Romania,” said Colonel Dorin Pleșcan, deputy chief of Training and Doctrine Directorate of the Romanian Defence Staff.

The recertification process started earlier this year with a static evaluation and was completed during the real-time deployments of multinational troops in Romania. NFIU ROU was evaluated by national authorities with embedded subject matter experts in June.

The evaluators assessed how the NFIU is conducting its mission during the Tactical Road March of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment in Romania,   as part of   exercise  SABER

GUARDIAN 2019, as well as during the 173rd Airborne Brigade Joint Forcible Entry in Boboc, Romania for exercise SWIFT RESPONSE 2019.

“Readiness is key to NATO,” said Lieutenant Colonel Marius Chiriță, commander NFIU ROU.“This unit is an informational hub and it is capable of assisting host nation troops deploying from outside of Romania, and other headquarters with valuable information that can improve the force mobility by land, sea and air. We are still a young headquarters and I am confident that our experience will serve as an important asset to effective military planning and execution for NATO.” 

NFIU ROU was established in 2015 as part of the Readiness Action Plan and since then continued to evolve by improving relationships with host nation and NATO commands as well as USAREUR. Since its implementation, the headquarters has been involved in numerous multinational exercises, conducted site surveys in Romania and gained important experience and knowledge that can help planners both in exercises and operations.