10th Anniversary of the NATO Mountain Warfare Centre of Excellence Reflecting on the Past, Rethinking the Future of Mountain Warfare
On 30 September 2025, the NATO Mountain Warfare Centre of Excellence (MWCOE) will mark its 10th Anniversary — a milestone that invites both celebration and strategic reflection.
Over the past decade, the MWCOE has stood at the intersection of tradition and innovation, striving to preserve the legacy of mountain troops while advancing NATO’s ability to operate in high-altitude, high-friction environments. But this anniversary is more than a commemoration — it is a challenge to look forward, ask hard questions, and propose bold ideas for the decade ahead.
Why Mountains Still Matter
From the battles of Monte Grappa and the Caucasus in the World Wars to more recent conflicts like Nagorno-Karabakh (2020) and Georgia (2008), mountainous terrain has consistently shaped the outcome of military operations. These environments offer both advantage and danger — often simultaneously.
The 10th Anniversary’s strategic round table, titled:
“Mountain Warfare in the Age of Disruption: From Strategic Neglect to Technological Breakthrough. Is it still possible?”
will bring together senior military and political leaders to examine this paradox: How can NATO better leverage the operational value of mountain warfare in an era of rapidly evolving threats and technologies?
You can download the brochure here!
The evet is based on invitation.
Mountain warfare is more than geography — it is a school of leadership.
Operating in the mountains demands adaptability, mental and physical endurance, ingenuity, and small-unit cohesion. It exposes friction, tests logistics, and rewards initiative. In this sense, preparing for mountain warfare does not just improve niche capabilities — it raises the baseline of force quality across domains.
“Train for the mountain, and you prepare better forces — everywhere.”
Mountain terrain can serve as a powerful enabler for NATO — a natural laboratory for force innovation, leadership development, and technology integration.
A Terrain That Teaches
Bridging the Gap: From Legacy to Innovation
As we look ahead, one of the central questions is how to update constantly our force structures to meet new challenges. In Ukraine, drones are responsible for over 50% of casualties. Our current military architecture must be ready for digital models.
Mountains exacerbate this: communications degrade, resupply is harder, and technology must perform under extreme conditions. Therefore, if we want technology to succeed anywhere, we must make it succeed in the mountains first. This calls for:
Smaller, modular, multi-domain units
Drone-enabled ISR and last-mile resupply
AI-supported decision-making in degraded environments
Logistics and command systems designed for isolation, altitude and denial
Rather than seeing the mountains as an operational edge case, we propose seeing them as a proving ground for the future of warfare.
No technology will work without the right people to lead it. Officers, NCOs and Soldiers of tomorrow must be trained to:
Integrate and command multi-domain systems
Make decisions in isolation
Use drones, autonomy, and advanced C4I tools
Think critically under pressure — and under snow
Mountain warfare provides an ideal environment to accelerate the transformation of military education. This is a challenge — and an opportunity — for NATO’s academies, training centres, and doctrine communities.
People First: A New Kind of Leader
A Way Forward
The MWCOE does not claim to have all the answers. But it does have a clear message:
NATO’s readiness spans across domains and environments — but the mountains remain a proving ground like no other.
Operating at altitude challenges not just human endurance, but also structural resilience and technological integration.
That is why the mountain environment offers an ideal testbed to validate the capabilities that modern warfare demands everywhere.
This 10th Anniversary will not only honour what has been built over the past decade, but will also launch a renewed dialogue on how to adapt, modernise, and rethink mountain warfare for the years to come.
We invite our guests, partners and readers to join us — in person or in thought — as we climb towards the future.
