Chièvres Air Base December 31, 1967 the Belgian authorities officially turned over Chièvres Airbase to the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE). The Americans established the NATO/SHAPE Support Group (US) in 1968 at Caserne Daumerie adjacent to the air base and just east of the town of Chièvres to operate the base and provide logistic support to NATO and SHAPE. This small unit was part of Theater Army Support Command (TASCOM), which was part of U.S. Army Europe (USAREUR). The NATO/SHAPE Support Group was later renamed 80th Area Support Group (NATO/SHAPE Support Group). The Airbase did serve as rehearsal and arrival point of
History of NATO 1997, NATO reached agreement on a significant downsizing of its command structure from 65 headquarters to just 20. The NATO Response Force (NRF) was launched at the 2002 Prague summit on 21 November, the first summit in a former Comecon country. On 19 June 2003, a further restructuring of the NATO military commands began as the Headquarters of the Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic were abolished and a new command, Allied Command Transformation (ACT), was established in Norfolk, United States, and the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) became the Headquarters of Allied Command Operations (ACO). ACT is responsible for driving