The NATO Rapid Deployable Corps – Italy (NRDC-ITA) is a multi-national corps headquarters of the

Italian Army The Italian Army ( []) is the Army, land force branch of the Italian Armed Forces. The army's history dates back to the Italian unification in the 1850s and 1860s. The army fought in colonial engagements in China and Italo-Turkish War, Libya. It ...

. It was established in November 2001 as a High Readiness Force (HRF) of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

. The staff of NRDC-ITA is located in

Solbiate Olona Solbiate Olona is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Varese in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 30 km northwest of Milan and about 20 km south of Varese. As of 31 December 2020, it had a population of 5,414 and an ar ...

, a few kilometers northwest of

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. The Ugo Mara barracks at Solbiate Olona is the operational center of the command structure and the Support Brigade while the institutional center is located in Palazzo Cusani, in the center of Milan.

History

In 1997, in the wake of a major restructuring of the Italian Army, the 3rd Army Corps was transformed into the Projection Forces Command (COMFOP) in command and control of three brigades, which were characterized by high mobility and deployability. However already on 1 December 2000 the 3rd Army Corps ceded its last brigades to the 1st Defence Forces Command (COMFOD 1°) and with its personnel the NATO Rapid Deployable Corps Italy was raised in January 2001. The formation served in Afghanistan as part of the

International Security Assistance Force The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was a multinational military mission in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. It was established by United Nations Security Council United Nations Security Council Resolution 1386, Resolution 1386 ac ...

in 2005 and, in collaboration with other international forces, was fully engaged in military operations there. Then, in July 2023, it was designated the headquarters of the Allied Reaction Force, a NATO grouping ready to deploy at particularly short notice.

Structure

NRDC-ITA is operationally led by NATO's Joint Force Command Headquarters in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

Brunssum Brunssum (; ) is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a town in the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg in the Netherlands. The municipality of Brunssum has residents as of . Brunssum was a center of coal mining until 197 ...

. The Commander and a large part of the staff are Italian. Normally, the Corps commands only a support brigade, but it can command further support units as well as a number of divisions or brigades. * NATO Rapid Deployable Corps – Italy, in

(

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

) ** NRDC-ITA Support Brigade, in Solbiate Olona (Lombardy) *** CoA mil ITA rgt trasmissioni 01

1st Signal Regiment, in

(Lombardy) **** CoA mil ITA rgt trasmissioni 01

Battalion "Spluga" **** CoA mil ITA btg trasmissioni 231

Battalion "Sempione" *** CoA mil ITA rgt logistico 33

33rd Logistic and Tactical Support Regiment "Ambrosiano", in Solbiate Olona (Lombardy)

References

External links

NRDC-IT Homepage

NRDC-IT Our history
{{DEFAULTSORT:NATO Rapid Deployable Corps - Italy Corps of Italy Military units and formations established in 2001 Army units and formations of Italy post-1946 2001 establishments in Italy NATO Rapid Deployable Corps