From 11 to 14 April 2023, a deployable team of the US Government executed the retransfer of Precision Guided Munitions to Royal Norwegian Air Force with the assistance of Belgian Defense ammunition experts. The retransfer of Precision Guided Munitions falls under the Air Battle Decisive Munitions framework where 15 nations commonly procure munitions through Multinational Foreign Military Sale cases managed by the NATO Support and Procurement Organisation (NSPO) Ammunition Support Partnership (ASP). NSPA procured the Precision Guided Munitions and coordinated their retransfer to Norway.
A Support Partnership (SP) is a multinational cooperation mechanism established on the initiative of two or more NATO nations wishing to organise common support and services activities. This support structure is a distinctive feature of NSPA. Participating Nations provide governance and guidance, whereas NSPA develops capabilities and manages Nations’ requirements. The consolidation of requirements provides economies of scale, reducing costs and logistics footprint, and the legal framework offers a common and efficient support.
This not only helps to reduce costs for ASP Nations, but also ensures that NATO forces have access to the ammunition they need to carry out their missions. The NATO Support and Procurement Agency (French: Agence OTAN de soutien et d’acquisition, NSPA) capability to consolidate ammunition procurement ensures that ASP Nations have access to a reliable, cost-effective, and secure supply of ammunition in the land, air, maritime and dismounted soldiers domains.
The NSPA is the main logistics and procurement agency of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and is the executive branch of the NATO Support and Procurement Organisation (NSPO), formerly NATO Maintenance and Supply Organization (NAMSO).Until 2012, the tasks were organised with the NATO Supply Agency and other institutions. It has about 1200 employees in Luxembourg, France, Italy and Hungary. On 1 April 2015, organisation and structure of NSPO and NSPA changed. This change marks the expansion of Agency capabilities to include all aspects of systems procurement from initial acquisition throughout sustainment.
