Allied Joint Force Command Naples Allied Joint Force Command Naples Allied Joint Force Command (JFC) Naples (JFC Naples) is a NATO military command based in Lago Patria, in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Italy—the base was formerly located in the Bagnoli quarter of Naples. It was activated on 15 March 2004, after what was effectively a redesignation of its predecessor command, Allied Forces Southern Europe (AFSOUTH), originally formed in 1951. AFSOUTH in NATO Military Command Structure terms was a "Major Subordinate Command". Commander JFC Naples reports to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, Casteau, Belgium. Originally, Allied Forces Southern Europe
Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe ACO as it became had more and more activities related to the NATO Response Force. Yet after Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania joined the alliance, and especially after the 2008 Georgia-Russia war, more attention began to be paid to NATO's core Article 5 defence obligations. The three Baltic states' worries were specifically focused on a potential Russian threat. Thus while some exercises were ostentially run to prepare the NRF, sometimes they also included Article 5 aspects. Among these dual-purpose exercises was 'Steadfast Jazz', part of the NATO Exercise Steadfast series, which was run in November 2013 across a number of NATO