NATO defence ministers approved steps to strengthen the NATO Response Force (NRF) on 8 October, which alliance secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said will have "all it needs" to deploy to the south if needed. "Our military commanders confirm that we have all we need to deploy the NRF to the south and the infrastructure to sustain it there," he told reporters. The specifics of the boost to the NRF were left vague by Stoltenberg, but it would be "bigger, more capable, [and] faster to deploy". However, he mentioned that it would grow from its current 13,000 personnel to 40,000 in a few years, with the 5,000-strong 'spearhead' Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) element being certified early next year after its testing and validation during the current 'Trident Juncture' exercise taking place across Italy, Portugal, and Spain.
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