A Presentation by General Denis Mercier
Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, NATO

Established in 2003, the Supreme Allied Command Transformation (ACT) of NATO is in charge of inventing the future of the Alliance and leading its transformation. SACT focus on strategic foresight, capability development, education and training and partnerships’ development. Challenges have never been so numerous: the emergence of new threats (Islamic State), as well as the re-renewal of old ones (Russia) lead to deep evolutions of warfare (combination of conventional, irregular and cyber warfare) in a context of strong pressure on military budgets. This discussion will touch on the ways of facing these challenges on conceptual and practical levels to meet the Alliance’s ambition.

General Denis Mercier was confirmed by the North Atlantic Council as Supreme Allied Commander Transformation on 23 March 2015. He joined the French Air Force academy in 1979 where he completed a Master’s degree of Science in 1981. Qualified as a fighter pilot in 1983, he acquired extensive experience both as an operational commander and as a fighter pilot, having flown a total of more than 3000 flying hours primarily on Mirage F1C and Mirage 2000C aircraft, including 182 hours in combat missions. Above all, NATO has been a constant throughout his career, at the tactical, operational and strategic level. Indeed, he commanded the 1/12 “Cambrésis” Fighter Squadron, a founding unit of the NATO Tiger association. He participated in numerous other NATO exercises and operations, including Operation Deny Flight over Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1994. Subsequently, he served in the NATO department of the French Joint Operational Planning Headquarters, working as a project officer for Exercise.

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