It consists of the United Kingdom, the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden), the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), and the Netherlands.

[4] The JEF arose from the Joint Rapid Reaction Force (JRRF) which disappeared as a result of the UK's focus on operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

[5] The multinational JEF was officially launched with the Letter of Intent as a NATO initiative at the September 2014 Wales Summit, subsumed under the new “Framework Nations Concept” rubric.

[6] Germany, the UK and Italy were to act as framework nations for groups of Allies coming together to work multi-nationally for the joint development of forces and capabilities required by NATO.

[4] In September 2014, the British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon also announced the signature of a Letter of Intent between Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom, to establish the JEF so that it is fully operational before 2018.

[8] On November 30, 2015, in the United Kingdom, seven countries (UK, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, and Norway) signed the contract to establish the JEF.

In addition to maritime operations, marines and soldiers from across the exercising countries undertook urban warfare simulations, live firing and parachuting.

Nowhere is more important to us than our friends in the Middle East and Gulf and in line with clear political intent we would expect, with other initiatives, for JEF elements to spend more time reassuring and deterring in that region."