A Year of Strategic Impact

In 2025, JAPCC delivered across every pillar of CoE work at higher tempo, and against a more demanding set of stakeholder requirements than in any previous year. The Annual Joint Air and Space Power Conference moved to the Grugahalle in Essen, expanding its capacity to reflect the Alliance’s growing appetite for independent, expert-driven discourse on air and space power. The conference drew record attendance, bringing together leading minds from across the Alliance and industry to address the complex theme of ‘Disrupting Dominance’.

The launch of the NATO C-UAS Fundamentals Course demonstrated JAPCC’s ability to identify a critical capability gap and close it at operational speed. From initial concept to first delivery took under twelve months, a timeline that reflects both the urgency of the C-UAS challenge and the analytical agility that distinguishes JAPCC within the CoE enterprise. In 2025 alone, we trained nearly 700 students, providing them with the critical skills needed to navigate the modern drone-saturated battlefield. Looking ahead, our capacity will double to accommodate 1,500 students in 2026.

Our commitment to the Alliance’s security was further demonstrated by our direct support to Ukraine. Through our involvement with the NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU) and the six-month deployment of one of our own members to that organisation, the JAPCC provided real-world expertise where it was needed most. This ‘boots-on-the-ground’ perspective has enriched our analysis and ensures that our work remains grounded in the harsh realities of modern peer conflict.

Navigating our Human Capital Limitations

To remain a premier organisation, we must be candid about our challenges. The personnel challenge within the CoE community is a critical reality that worsened in 2025. This year, we were required to de-flag seven additional posts, including a vital Branch Head position, several critical Subject Matter Expert posts, and a key administrative post.

The personnel challenge is real, and its consequences for output are documented in this report. JAPCC’s response has been to consolidate where consolidation adds value, and to pursue targeted structural adaptation – not as a substitute for adequate personnel, but as a means of protecting analytical output whilst Sponsoring Nations work to address the underlying shortfall. To this end, we are combining the Joint Air and Space Power Network (JASPN) with our Think Tank Forum (TTF) in 2026. Furthermore, the overall trend in the reduction of NATO CoEs, most notably the closure of the Combined Joint Operations from the Sea Centre of Excellence (CJOS CoE), presents a unique strategic opportunity. As these organisations sunset, there is a clear path to consolidate vital personnel and specialised expertise back under the JAPCC umbrella. We feel the best way to ensure that NATO’s Joint Air and Space ‘collective memory’ is not lost is to encourage air domain consolidation.

Innovation as the Standard

In addition to our core missions, we successfully supported three ACT Innovation Challenges, proving that the JAPCC is as much a laboratory for the future as it is a guardian of doctrine. Every project we undertook remained rigorously aligned with AIRCOM’s five priorities, ensuring our output delivers immediate dividends for the warfighter.

As JAPCC enters its third decade, the strategic rationale for this institution has never been stronger – nor the demands placed upon it more acute. The Alliance requires rigorous, independent, non-industrial air and space power expertise. JAPCC exists to provide it. Whether that task is fulfilled at the level the Alliance requires depends, in no small part, on the decisions Sponsoring Nations take in the coming year. As General Gorenc famously remarked, ‘Airpower is like Oxygen. When you have enough, you don’t have to think about it. When you don’t have enough, that’s all you can think about’. Our task remains clear: to keep the Alliance breathing.

Sincerely,
Vito Cracas
Colonel, ITA Air Force
Assistant Director, JAPCC