LONDON: European allies need to overhaul their war-fighting capabilities for a new era of combat, senior military officials from the region said, while warning of the potential threat Russia poses.
Speaking at a defense conference in London this week, NATO’s deputy supreme allied commander in Europe, Air Chief Marshal Sir Johnny Stringer, underlined the need to shift to using mass-produced, low-cost equipment such as drones and interceptors, while becoming less dependent on high-end, expensive platforms that can take years to produce.
Among other priorities was the ability to conduct deep precision strikes and electromagnetic warfare while also bolstering air defenses, including to defend against weapons with ranges of thousands of kilometers, he said, addressing the conference hosted by the Royal United Services Institute, a UK-based defense and security think tank.
“The threat we face is at 360 degrees,” the air chief marshal told the audience of military and industry representatives. “We need to be looking much further north now in terms of the ranges where we’re needing to deal with Russian long-range aviation and with a potent surface and subsurface threat, most obviously from the [Russian navy’s] Northern Fleet.” Some senior European officials have said Russia could rebuild its military sufficiently to threaten NATO territory within the next few years. President Donald Trump’s administration has repeatedly accused European governments of underinvesting in their militaries and relying too heavily on US protection. Washington announced plans in May to pull 5,000 troops out of Germany, and Trump has threatened to pull out of NATO. A pivotal NATO leaders’ summit is due to take place in July in Ankara.
