NATO Science and Technology Organization

The Science and Technology Organization (STO) is a NATO subsidiary body created within the framework of the North Atlantic Treaty signed in Washington in 1949.

In a mission statement in the 1982 History it published, the purpose involved "bringing together the leading personalities of the NATO nations in the fields of science and technology relating to aerospace".

Von Kármán had a direct personal interest in the Panels - based on his life-long scientific work and his association with the military - and he gave them his guidance.

The DRG was one of seven "Main Groups" reporting to the Conference of National Armaments Directors (CNAD) whose purpose was to foster cooperation on research and new technology which could lead to future defence equipment.

This involves understanding and ensuring the physical, physiological, psychological and cognitive compatibility among military personnel, technological systems, missions, and environments.

The focus of the Panel is on undertaking Operations Analysis activities related to challenges in the evolving strategic environment and the responses that both individual nations and NATO as a whole are making to tackle them.

The scope of Panel activities covers a multidisciplinary range of theoretical concepts, design, development, and evaluation methods applied to integrated defence systems.

In November 1996, the Conference of National Armaments Directors (CNAD) established a Steering Group on NATO Simulation Policy and Applications with a mandate to craft an Alliance approach to simulation in order to improve Alliance operations (e.g. defence planning, training, exercises, support to operations, research, technology development and armaments acquisition modernization) cost-effectively.

The M&S Master Plan recommended two organisational structures: the NATO Modelling & Simulation Group (as a level 2 body reporting to the RTB) and the establishment of a full-time Modelling & Simulation Co-ordination Office (MSCO) providing scientific, executive and administrative support to NMSG The mission of the NMSG is to promote co-operation among Alliance bodies, NATO, and partner nations to maximize the effective utilization of M&S.

The NMSG, as nominated by the Conference of National Armaments Directors (CNAD), is the delegated tasking authority for standardization in the NATO modelling and simulation domain.

Under the umbrella of establishing a common technical framework, increasing interoperability and developing models, simulations and standards for M&S, the main current and future focus areas of work are: The NMSG has three permanent sub-groups: CMRE is NATO's knowledge repository for maritime S&T.

CMRE contributes new technologies enabling access to unmanned systems that have the ability to sense, comprehend, predict, communicate, plan, make decisions and take appropriate actions to achieve mission goals.

This provides operators with new technologies across the spectrum of expeditionary kinetic and non-kinetic capabilities required to defeat traditional threats decisively and confront irregular challenges effectively.

This advice is sourced from the collective STO programmes and the underlying knowledge base and then synthesised and integrated for political and military decision-makers.