Senior officers work on operational plans during Arrcade Fusion 13, a NATO exercise aimed at testing the capabilities of the alliance's Rapid Reaction Corps. The exercise in the United Kingdon ended on Friday, Nov. 29, 2013. Mike O'Neill/Courtesy UK Ministry of Defense

NATO’s Arrcade Fusion 13 exercise, a multinational event aimed at ensuring that the alliance’s first rapid deployment headquarters is ready to respond to a potential crisis, concluded Friday in southwest England.

The exercise brought together 2,500 military and civilian personnel from numerous countries, including Britain, Denmark, Canada, Italy and the U.S.

Arrcade Fusion marked the first time the headquarters of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps conducted a major training drill since the unit moved from its former location in Germany to Britain in 2010, NATO said in a statement. The exercise also offered the ARRC an opportunity to train for its next challenge: becoming an Integrated Land Command.

A new operational concept, the Integrated Land Command turns a land-centric headquarters, like the ARRC, into a body capable of commanding air and maritime elements, the alliance said.

“NATO has always charged the ARRC, as well as the alliance’s six other rapid deployment corps, to ensure that we are consistently flexible, agile, and able to deploy anywhere in the world with great expediency,” ARRC spokesman Lt. Col. Gareth Powell said in a statement.

The ARRC headquarters is currently on standby for short-notice call-ups and subsequent deployments on five days of notice.

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