The Final Coordination Conference for Bulgaria's PHOENIX 2010 Exercise/Experiment underscored the benefits of strong defence cooperation and "need to share" principles at Bulgaria's National Military Training Complex (NMTC) in Charalitza, Bulgaria last week.

In a team effort initiated in March of 2009, ACT's Operational Experimentation (OPEX) Branch has been working with their Bulgarian counterparts in a collaborative experiment plan.

Representatives from ACT's Operational Experimentation (OPEX) Branch helped to identify synergies between national experimentation for Bulgaria, and several ACT experiments.

ACT's prototype Civil Military Fusion Centre/CimicWeb, Joint Planning and Execution Coordination Tool – Civil Military Interaction (JPECT-CMI) imagery, and other experimental tools, will be employed and further developed while supporting PHOENIX 2010.

During the PHOENIX 2010 Exercise and Experimentation execution, participants from international, government and non-government organisations will work together to deal with crisis management challenges.

Concurrently, ACT's OPEX team will be collecting data to identify lessons applicable to ACT Civil Military Interaction experiments and capability development. They will also try to identify avenues for further collaborative experimentation through which Alliance and National or regional requirements can be addressed.

PHOENIX 2010 includes cooperation between NATO, Bulgaria, United Kingdom, United States, Canada, and the Joint CBRN Centre of Excellence. PHOENIX 2011 (Energy Flame) will include 9 Balkan nations, all with participating exercise and experimentation elements.

PHOENIX 2010 will be executed November 15-19. For more information, please visit the http://phoenix.mod.bg website, or visit "ACT's Contribution to Bulgaria's PHOENIX 2010" Facebook page.

I am folding in DTRA, US ACE, TRADOC, and the US Embassies in this effort. Connect if you are interested.