History / Chronology
The establishment of the NMIOTC was granted by the NATO Defense Ministers on June 12th 2003. The first staff members were posted to the NMIOTC Project Office on November 2005. The MOU regarding the relationship between NATO (the Strategic Commanders) and the NMIOTC was signed by the Greek Chief of Defense (CHOD), SACT and SACEUR in the margins of the NATO Military Committee during the CHODs Session in Brussels on November 15th 2005. The NMIOTC Operational Concept was endorsed by SACT and SACEUR on July 2006.
explore more from Organization
2007
The MoU regarding the participation in NMIOTC manning, activities and provision of training was signed on December 18th, 2007, between the Hellenic Ministry of National Defense and the initial sponsoring Nations: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Romania and Türkiye.
2008
The Centre declared Full Operational Capability on March 17th, 2008. The Official inauguration took place on the 14th of October, 2008 at Souda Naval Base, Crete. In the period leading up to these events, and later on, the Centre consolidated and improved internal organization and its education and training products, and at the same time was committed to make itself widely known. Since summer of 2008, NATO and Partners Nations have started training at NMIOTC.
2009
NMIOTC also participated in the planning and the conduct of MIO related exercises with the involvement of surface units and more than 200 multinational trainees from more than 10 NATO and Non-NATO entities. The same year NMIOTC also provided certain education to the Standing NATO Maritime Groups, SNMG1 and SNMG2, prior to their deployment in Operation Ocean Shield.
2009
NMIOTC conducted on October a high level seminar on Maritime Interdiction of Weapon of Mass Destruction. The seminar was the first commitment to support the NATO community in promoting and organizing forums for discussions and sharing of knowledge and experience in the area of Maritime Interdiction related issues.
2010
NMIOTC conducted a high level seminar on Maritime Interdiction of Weapons of Mass Destruction.
2012
The Maritime Chemical, Biological, Radiological Nuclear detection, identification and control operation field trial was conducted.
2013
The Centre was awarded on November 7th, 2013, the Quality Assurance (QA) unconditional accreditation by NATO Allied Command Transformation (ACT) and was the first NETF that obtained this certification.
2015
Both the UK and the USA decided to contribute to the NMIOTC efforts, by assigning maritime operations expert officers to the Centre, starting from January and July respectively, on a rotational basis.
2018
NMIOTC Sponsoring Nations community was further enriched on March of that year with the joining of Poland by the assignment of the first Polish officer.
October 2018
NMIOTC has fulfilled 10 years of training presence and the achievement of recognition inside NATO Structure is apparent.
2018
NMIOTC was recognized as a NAEMT (National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians) authorized Training Centre on December 2nd, 2018.
2019
On May 31st, the Centre was awarded the 2nd QA unconditional accreditation by ACT, for 6 more years.
2025
NMIOTC was awarded the 3rd QA unconditional accreditation by ACT.