NATO’s Allied Command Transformation and the U.S. Joint Staff will co-host the 2012 International Concept Development & Experimentation (CD&E) Conference in Vilnius on 6-8 November. The theme of this conference is “Optimizing Joint & Combined Forces For 2020 And Beyond”.

Military performance is among the topics of the conference. A two-day workshop will focus on this topic with an aim to increase awareness of military energy efficiency issues among NATO member and partner countries, to generate ideas and provide recommendations and suggestions which would be useful in the short to medium term (in 5-10 years) when planning and developing NATO’s capability, carrying out military missions, and increasing interoperability between the Alliance Military Forces.

The event will be attended by experts who take interest in energy security issues, representatives from academia and industry. Experts from various foreign countries will moderate discussions and seminars.

“The fact that such event will be held for the first time in Vilnius shows that Lithuania became increasingly involved in NATO’s transformation process, contributing its insights and skills to the development of the Alliance’s defence capability,” Director of the Energy Security Centre Audrius Brūzga said.

The conference will be opened by Lithuanian Army Brigadier General Vilmantas Tamošaitis, Chief of Joint Headquarters of the Lithuanian Armed Forces; Italian Army Brigadier General Giovanni Fungo, Assistant Chief of Staff, Capability Engineering, Headquarters Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (HQ SACT); and U.S. Marine Corps Brigadier General Brian Beaudreault, Assistant Deputy Director for Joint Development, Joint Staff J7.

The objectives of the event are to create an environment conducive to information sharing and relationship building while highlighting the benefits of CD&E methodologies and practical applications in optimizing the development of joint and combined forces. The conference will aim to obtain perspectives on ideas, discuss relevant problems and challenges, and explore potential solutions to energy security and maritime security operations.

 For more information about the event, visit here: http://www.act.nato.int/mainpages/cde-conf.