RE/RE (reinforcement/resupply)

RE/RE stands for reinforcement/resupply. It is an abbreviation recorded in NATO's Glossary of NATO Acronyms and Abbreviations (AAP-15), where the entry carries the note "Shipping." That note places the term in the language of sea transport and logistics rather than general military usage.

The two halves of the abbreviation describe different jobs. Reinforcement is the deployment of additional forces to a theatre. Resupply is the delivery of the supplies needed to keep those forces operating. Written together as RE/RE, they refer to the combined shipping effort of moving troops and materiel to where they are needed. The AAP-15 glossary is the source for the expansion and the shipping label.

Where RE/RE sits in NATO terminology

AAP-15 is NATO's reference list of acronyms and abbreviations. RE/RE is one entry among thousands, and its shipping note tells a reader which functional area the abbreviation belongs to. NATO also maintains NATOTerm, its official terminology database, which is run by the NATO Terminology Office within the NATO Standardization Office. Readers who need the formal NATO meaning of a logistics or shipping term can check it at NATOTerm.

Reinforcement and resupply in NATO logistics

NATO describes logistics as covering both the deployment and the sustainment of Allied forces. Its overview of NATO's role in logistics includes the deployment and sustainment of Allied reinforcements. That is the same pairing the RE/RE abbreviation captures: forces arrive, then supplies keep them in place.

• Reinforcement: bringing additional forces into an area.
• Resupply: providing the supplies needed to maintain those forces.
• Shipping: the transport function NATO's glossary attaches to the abbreviation.

Sea lift, Canada and commercial shipping

NATO logistics planning has included sea-lifting reinforcements and supplies from the United States and Canada. Canada is therefore part of the transatlantic movement that RE/RE describes. NATO's older logistics materials also identify commercial transport resources, particularly shipping, as relevant to reinforcement planning. The NATO Logistics Handbook sets out that context. Commercial shipping capacity is part of how reinforcement and resupply are carried out, not only military vessels.

What RE/RE means for a supplier bidding on Canadian public contracts

RE/RE is NATO terminology. If you see it in NATO planning documents or in the glossary, read it as reinforcement/resupply with a shipping focus. Canadian suppliers can reach NATO work through CanadaBuys, which showcases NATO tender notices because Canada is a NATO member and Canadian businesses can bid on many NATO opportunities. The CanadaBuys guide on how to find tender opportunities explains this.

CanadaBuys tender notices can come from Public Services and Procurement Canada, other federal departments and agencies, Crown corporations, broader public-sector organizations and NATO, as described on the CanadaBuys tenders support page. When a notice touches shipping, sea transport or logistics support for deployed forces, confirm the exact wording and requirements in the solicitation documents themselves, and read RE/RE in that notice against the NATO meaning above.