If NATO cannot apply a massing of military defensive capability against Russia, the most formidable modernized massive military force in Europe, it cannot deter that force. NATO today needs more mass of defensive capability, it needs to be more agile, it needs to be more responsive, it needs to be more synchronized, and it needs to share more of the burden of applying military mass through existing effects and capability within the Alliance. United States military forces in Europe are overly relied upon by NATO for mass military capability effects and if action ever took place, would be completely depended on for immediate response until NATO formulates its consensus position. United States forces in Europe are in a very challenging position with reduced numbers, reduced budgets and a focus redirected by the President to the Pacific as well as in the Middle East.
As the Supreme Allied Commander, the Secretary General of NATO, and the United States Combatant Commander for EUCOM shifts from assurance to deterrence, from air policing to air defending, there is a transition of mindset, capabilities, actions, integration and interoperability of allied capability, and to include passive and active defenses to form military mass.
Using what we have better, effectors of non-material solutions such as Command and Control, Battle Management, and Communications (C2BMC), fused persistent overhead and land sensors for a complete air picture, integration and interoperability of different interceptor systems, leveraging inherent capabilities in existing systems – from F-35, Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System (IBCS), to Aegis Platforms – moving from pure zone defenses to overlap, layered and fully integrated air and missile defenses, and NATO certification of American and European NATO Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) forces are all absolutely critical to exponentially force multiply mass from NATO participating nations.
Enhancing and enabling leadership of NATO willing partner nations to gather, command and deploy mass in the air and missile defense spectrum generates tremendous mass of defensive capability. Germany in particular – which has the most IAMD capability of all European NATO nations, partnered with the Netherlands in its existing Task Force in IAMD – needs to be given leadership command at a flag level, with the NATO Joint Force Air Force Commander as his advisor on air and missile defense. Germany needs to be enabled to lead and host a Center of Excellence for IAMD for NATO in Europe. Equally important, Germany is the only NATO member that can fuse different Eastern NATO nations sensors and air defense systems together. France and Italy’s IAMD system, with the SAMP/T interceptors and Italy’s AN/TPS-77 radars, need to be integrated into the NATO IAMD team. Poland, a leader of its own merit, is the tipping point for air and missile defense for the Eastern NATO Allied Nations who want to replace old obsolescent, legacy Soviet systems. Spain, Denmark, and the Netherlands and other participating NATO nations of the Maritime Theater Missile Defense Forum need to be propelled in sea based air and missile defense massing.
The requirements of planning, exercising and training together to earn trust, lead and execute air and missile defense missions from operational plans of the upcoming Austere Challenge to Saber Guardian and Tobruq Legacy air defense exercises in Eastern Europe will drive material solutions and the interoperability of national IAMD systems of the NATO nations participating to respond in those regions.
All of this NATO team defensive military massing, driven by an extremely capable, modernized, massive and highly respected opponent such as Russia creates a competitive cauldron that forces greatness, collaboration, competition, and sacrifice with a team that produces effectors of mass that change momentum to win by actions from excellence of leadership and execution.
MDAA was honored this past week to meet our soldiers and airmen at US Army Europe in Wiesbaden, US Air Force Europe in Ramstien, and United States European Command in Stuttgart, Germany.
