NATO will increase high-readiness force to ‘well over’
300,000 troops
Jens Stoltenberg says move comes as part of biggest
defense upgrade since Cold War.
BY LILI
BAYER
June 27,
2022 3:34 pm
https://www.politico.eu/article/nato-increase-high-readiness-force-300000/
NATO will
boost its high-readiness forces to more than 300,000 troops, the alliance’s
chief announced on Monday, in part of plans that he described as “the biggest
overhaul of our collective defense and deterrence since the Cold War.”
The current
NATO response force compromises approximately 40,000 troops.
Speaking to
reporters ahead of a summit of NATO leaders, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg
said the transatlantic military alliance will strengthen its eastern defenses
and adopt a new model for protecting them.
“We will
enhance our battlegroups in the eastern part of the Alliance up to
brigade-levels,” Stoltenberg said, adding that allies “will transform the NATO
Response Force and increase the number of our high-readiness forces to well
over 300,000.”
Eastern EU
countries — and in particular the Baltic states — have been pushing NATO to
boost troop numbers along its eastern borders to better defend every part of
the alliance and deter Moscow.
Under new
plans, set to be endorsed at the NATO leaders’ summit in Madrid later this
week, allies will place more weapons in the east — and designate forces that will
be responsible for defending the area. Nevertheless, many of these forces will
not be permanently stationed on the eastern flank, instead rotating through the
region for trainings.
The model
will include “more pre-positioned equipment, and stockpiles of military
supplies,” as well as “more forward-deployed capabilities, like air defence”
and “strengthened command and control,” Stoltenberg said.
The new
defense plans will involve “forces pre-assigned to defend specific allies”
which “will exercise together with home defence forces” and “become familiar
with local terrain, facilities, and our new pre-positioned stocks, so that they
can respond smoothly and swiftly to any emergency,” according to the NATO
chief.
Germany has
already announced that it will identify larger forces to boost Lithuania’s
defenses, and other countries — such as the United Kingdom — could make similar
pledges in the coming days.
Lithuanian
President Gitanas Nausėda warned on Friday that the new security tensions in
the region — and in particular changes in neighboring Belarus — “leaves us no
time for reaction,” because Russian troops “might be easily deployed very near
to our border.”
“What is
most important” for the Baltics, the Lithuanian leader told POLITICO, is “to
have very clear assurances” from allies about a “more visible forward presence
here in the Baltics.”
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