DAY ONE: TUESDAY 29 SEPTEMBER
9:00 am - 9:30 am
HOST NATION KEYNOTE ADDRESS: ALIGNING ROMANIA'S DEFENCE POSTURE WITH NATO PRIORITIES FOR INCREASED INTEROPERABILITY
Lieutenant General Dragos-Dumitru Iacob -
Deputy Chief of Defence,
Romanian Defence Staff
• Update on key programmes including C4ISR, multi-layered air defence and logistics
• Outlining key capability gaps to be filled for long-term resilience
• Addressing bilateral cooperation with priority nations to strengthen interoperability
9:30 am - 10:00 am
EASTERN FLANK DETERRENCE INITIATIVE AND C2 CHALLENGES FOR LANDCOM
Lieutenant General Jez Bennett -
Deputy Commander,
NATO Allied Land Command
Brigadier Chris Gent - Deputy Chief of Staff, Transformation and Integration, NATO Allied Land Command
• Managing transition into a warfighting HQ and related C2 implications
• Navigating current cost of production challenges for C-UAS
• Upcoming LANDCOM priorities for Eastern Flank resilience and readiness
Brigadier Chris Gent
Deputy Chief of Staff, Transformation and IntegrationNATO Allied Land Command
10:00 am - 10:30 am
EVOLVING LAND FORCES COMBAT READINESS THROUGH MODERNISED STRATEGY AND INTEROPERABILITY
Lieutenant General Ciprian Marin -
Chief of Land Forces Staff,
Romanian Armed Forces
• Programmes for new battle tank acquisitions and armoured vehicles to upgrade and
modernise land forces
• Results from recent military exercises outlining successful coordination of
manoeuvres and joint fires
• Addressing future demands for Romanian land forces
10:30 am - 11:00 am
MORNING COFFEE AND NETWORKING BREAK
11:00 am - 11:30 am
VIRTUAL: INNOVATION UNDER FIRE: WHAT UKRAINE HAS LEARNED FROM WARTIME DIGITALISATION
Oksana Ferchuk -
Deputy Minister of Defence for Digital Transformation,
Government of Ukraine
• Resilient supply chains: ensuring speed, transparency, and accountability through digital procurement and logistics
• Commercial technologies on the battlefield: balancing accessibility with security
• Human-centric digital services: cutting bureaucracy and simplifying military service through technology
11:30 am - 12:30 pm
PANEL DISCUSSION: DECISIONS AT SPEED: C2 IN MODERN CRISIS RESPONSE
Mr. Tõnis Saar -
Director,
NATO Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE)
Colonel Mietta Groeneveld - Director, NATO Command & Control Centre of Excellence (C2COE)
Colonel Orlin Nikolov - Director, Crisis Management and Disaster Response (CMDR) COE
Captain Mehmet Cengiz Ekren - Director, NATO Maritime Security Centre of Excellence (MARSEC COE)
Lieutenant General Maciej Klisz *subject to final confirmation - Operational Commander, Polish Armed Forces
Lieutenant General (Ret'd) Corneliu Postu - Former Director, Romanian Defence Staff
Join senior leaders from across NATO Centres of Excellence and operational command for a high-level discussion on how decision-making must evolve to keep pace with modern crises, this panel brings together expertise spanning cyber, command and control, crisis response, and maritime security.
As operational environments become increasingly complex and communications contested, the ability to make timely, informed decisions is critical. This session will explore how NATO members are integrating multi-domain operations to enhance interoperability, strengthen resilience, and maintain effective command and control under pressure.
Panellists will examine the practical challenges of aligning national capabilities with NATO priorities, ensuring coordination across land, sea, air, cyber, and space domains, and leveraging emerging technologies without over-reliance on them. The discussion will also address how to balance speed with accuracy in high-stakes environments, and what organisational, cultural, and technical changes are required to accelerate decision-making during crisis response.
Attendees will gain a clearer understanding of how to operate effectively in degraded or denied communications environments, how to improve interoperability across allied forces, and what it truly takes to deliver decisions at speed in modern warfare.
Captain Mehmet Cengiz Ekren
DirectorNATO Maritime Security Centre of Excellence (MARSEC COE)
Lieutenant General Maciej Klisz *subject to final confirmation
Operational CommanderPolish Armed Forces
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
NETWORKING LUNCH
STREAM A: FORCE DEVELOPMENT, READINESS, AND INDUSTRIAL MOBILISATION
1:30 pm - 2:00 pm STRATEGIC CHOICES AND CHANGES IN THE ESTONIAN DEFENCE ECOSYSTEM Mr. Siim Sukles - Undersecretary for Defence Industry and Innovation, Ministry of Defence Republic of Estonia• Strategic choice of the defense forces for the future
• The position of the Ministry of Defense in the development of the ecosystem
• Discussing expanded military investment plans
Mr. Siim Sukles
Undersecretary for Defence Industry and InnovationMinistry of Defence Republic of Estonia
STREAM B: BATTLEFIELD INTEGRATION, EFFECTS, AND OPERATIONAL ADVANTAGE
1:30 pm - 2:00 pm TACKLING THE KILL CHAIN PROBLEM TO ACHIEVE PRECISE LOITERING MUNITION TARGETING Colonel Roman Bobal - Commander, Fires Centre of Excellence, Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic• Creating a coherent strike architecture
• Middle and deep battle disruption for the modern battlefield
• Addressing key capability gaps to be filled
Colonel Roman Bobal
Commander, Fires Centre of ExcellenceArmed Forces of the Slovak Republic
2:00 pm - 2:30 pm
RESERVED FOR INDUSTRY INSIGHTS
2:30 pm - 3:00 pm
DESIGNING FOR UNCERTAINTY IN A RAPIDLY CHANGING WAR ENVIRONMENT
Brigadier Matt Baker -
Incoming Head Strategic Concepts and Warfare Development,
UK Ministry of Defence
• Collaborative priorities across industry and academia to evolve fighting
capabilities
• Leveraging the most feasible concepts to influence policy, military, and
procurement strategies
• What does the future fighting power for defence look like?
Brigadier Matt Baker
Incoming Head Strategic Concepts and Warfare DevelopmentUK Ministry of Defence
2:30 pm - 3:00 pm
ACCELERATING BRITISH ARMY LETHALITY THROUGH UAS
Colonel Simon Pope -
Commander, UAS Group,
UK Ministry of Defence
• Rapid transformation of British Army lethality through mesh enabled reconnaissance strike networks and the accelerated fielding of weaponised and
ISTAR UAS
• Applying battlefield lessons beyond Ukraine to deliver networked, survivable, high tempo effects in contested electromagnetic environments
• Scaling Army UAS for coalition operations, balancing speed, sovereignty and resilience while aligning with NATO interoperability standards
3:00 pm - 3:30 pm
AFTERNOON TEA AND NETWORKING BREAK
ENABLING RAPID CAPACITY BUILDING THROUGH INNOVATION ADOPTION AND LEADERSHIP
3:30 pm - 4:00 pm VIRTUAL: CURRENT NIF STATUS AND FUTURE PRIORITIES: MULTI-DOMAIN FUNDING AND INVESTMENT Alex Kugajevsky - Principal, NATO Innovation Fund• Sharing concrete examples of collaboration from the portfolio
• Discussing insights around startup deployments in Ukraine
• Addressing capability gaps within the Alliance for investment and startups
COMMANDING THE DIGITAL BATTLEFIELD
3:30 pm - 4:00 pm MANAGING CYBER VULNERABILITIES AND PROTECTING DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURES Mr. Tõnis Saar - Director, NATO Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE)• Discussing NATO's cyber transformation process
• Enhancing battlefield connectivity and establishing cyber resilience across
domains
• How to establish robust measures to protect against the current threat context
4:00 pm - 4:30 pm
DIANA PRIORITIES: READINESS FOR A NEW KIND OF WARFARE
Jyoti Hirani-Driver -
Acting Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer,
NATO Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA)
• Harnessing innovation for the future of defence
• Update on collaboration with innovators for multi-domain technologies
• Seeking integrated dual-use digital solutions for future defence
Jyoti Hirani-Driver
Acting Managing Director and Chief Operating OfficerNATO Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA)
4:00 pm - 4:30 pm
OVERCOMING DATA INTEGRATION CHALLENGES THROUGH AI-DRIVEN DATA FUSION AND C2
Colonel Mietta Groeneveld -
Director,
NATO Command & Control Centre of Excellence (C2COE)
• Creating robust and adaptable systems to overcome bottlenecks
• Working to integrate information across domains to improve C2
• Perspectives on new systems being used by Nato's C2COE
4:30 pm - 5:00 pm
LEADING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
Andrew Kaye -
Incoming Director of Commercial X,
UK Ministry of Defence
• Leveraging advanced technologies to maintain an efficient force
• Building a resilient digital platform
• Global influence and collaboration
4:30 pm - 5:00 pm
LAYERED PROTECTION: FUZE'S ROLE IN SUPPORTING INNOVATION ACROSS THE EASTERN FLANK
Dr. Matthew Willis -
Director of Army Innovation Programs,
US Army
• Development of C-UAS technologies for autonomous protection
• Creating a digital shield using multiple layers of protection
• Future priorities for US army FUZE
5:00 pm - 5:30 pm
CHAIRMAN’S CLOSING REMARKS
Lieutenant General (Ret'd) Corneliu Postu -
Former Director,
Romanian Defence Staff
5:00 pm - 5:30 pm
CHAIRMAN’S CLOSING REMARKS
Lieutenant General Ralph Wooddisse -
Commander,
NATO Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC)
6:30 pm - 7:30 pm
NETWORKING DRINKS RECEPTION | ROMANIAN OPERA
Join your peers in an extended networking reception, including drinks, canapés and entertainment. Transportation to and from the venue will be provided.
