Stewart Penney/LONDON
NATO's new military committee chairman, Adm Guido Venturoni, and UK defence secretary George Robertson have criticised Europe's ability to support alliance operations such as the recent conflict with Yugoslavia.
Both acknowledge that the USA provided the lion's share (70-80%) of air assets in Kosovo. Venturoni says that, without US equipment, the rest of NATO could not have mounted the air war. "The rest of the alliance members simply do not have the required capacity," he said at the end of June.
Venturoni adds: "Unless there exists a real European resolve to acquire the necessary resources, the European Defence and Security Identity [EDSI] will remain nothing more than a noble concept. NATO needs sufficient modern mission-effective forces with the necessary readiness and availability- Kosovo drove home the message of how critical it is that Europe tackles its own capability shortfalls." EDSI will allow NATO's European members to act together outside the alliance's auspices.
NATO deployed "virtually all of its immediate and rapid reaction forces", and it must adjust its force structure to include sufficient "mission effective forces with the necessary readiness and availability", says Venturoni. He singles out NATO's intended purchase of an air-to-ground surveillance system as a critical acquisition.
Speaking at the Royal United Services Institute in London, Robertson said that the UK can deploy faster and more effectively than most of its allies. He said a lesson from Kosovo is that, while the UK armed forces "are heading in the right direction, it would appear that we still have some way to go before we have European defence capability as I would like to see it".
Critical shortfall areas include the lack of strategic transport aircraft, stand-off precision guided munitions, reconnaissance/surveillance aircraft and rapid reaction forces, all areas now being addressed by the UK.
Source: Flight International
