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| Updated: June 2004 | NATO Publications |
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NATO Transformed 3. Strengthening defence capabilities
The Allies are making a concerted effort to strengthen their defence capabilities to ensure that NATO is able to field forces that can move quickly to wherever they are needed, sustain operations over distance and time, and achieve their objectives as quickly and effectively as possible while minimising unintended harm to non-combatants. Maintaining adequate military capabilities and a clear preparedness to act collectively remain of central relevance in today's security environment. In the event of crises that could threaten the security of Alliance members, NATO forces must be able to complement and reinforce political actions, and contribute to the management of such crises and their peaceful resolution. The drive to improve capabilities was initiated when Allied leaders, meeting in Washington in April 1999, set out their vision of an Alliance for the 21st century: larger, more capable and flexible, committed to collective defence and able to undertake new missions, including contributing to conflict prevention and engaging actively in crisis-management and crisis-response operations. They launched the Defence Capabilities Initiative (DCI) to improve NATO's defence capabilities in key areas.
Over the following three years, the DCI achieved progress in some areas, notably those that required fewer resources, but shortfalls remained in critical capabilities and implementation was slow. In the meantime, the urgency to adapt and modernise has increased due to dangers from new and asymmetric threats, that is, threats from opponents who seek to exploit the vulnerabilities of modern societies and of militarily superior powers, often ruthlessly using unconventional means, particularly terrorism. The September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States brought into sharp focus the threat posed by terrorism and the subsequent US-led intervention in Afghanistan highlighted continuing shortfalls in Allies' capabilities. So, at the Prague Summit in November 2002, Allied leaders committed themselves to a more focused approach to strengthening NATO's military capabilities, as part of a package of measures to increase the effectiveness of future operations across the full spectrum of Alliance missions, including against terrorism. A threepronged approach to improving Alliance defence capabilities was adopted: a new capabilities initiative, the Prague Capabilities Commitment; a NATO Response Force; and a streamlined command structure. Moreover, a series of defence initiatives were launched specifically to address new threats. Improvements in Allied interoperability and critical capabilities will enable European Allies to make a stronger, more coherent contribution to NATO's missions by addressing shortfalls in European defence capabilities. Such improvements should also be mutually reinforcing with the European Union's efforts to develop military capabilities and to achieve its Headline Goal of creating a deployable corps-sized, rapid reaction force.
Prague Capabilities Commitment The DCI targeted capabilities to which the Alliance as a whole aspired but did not involve nation-specific commitments. However, under the Prague Capabilities Commitment, individual Allies have made firm and public pledges to make specific improvements to key military capabilities with specific timelines for delivery and high-level monitoring of implementation. Key capability areas include strategic air and sea lift; air-to-air refuelling, deployable combat support and combat service units; command, control and communications; air-to-ground surveillance; intelligence, surveillance and target acquisition; combat effectiveness, including precision-guided munitions and suppression of enemy air defences; and chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defence capabilities. Strengthening defence capabilities will require further reprioritisation in many Allies' defence budgets, for example in reducing force levels and shifting resources towards equipment modernisation. However, in many cases, smarter spending will not be enough and additional financial resources may be required. Costeffective solutions to defence-capability shortfalls are being explored, such as the pooling of military capabilities, increasing role specialisation, cooperative acquisition of equipment, and common and multinational funding. Once implemented, the Prague Capabilities Commitment will at least quadruple the number of large transport aircraft in Europe and, by pooling resources, European Allies will also boost their air-to-air refuelling capacity. The stock of non-US, air-delivered, precision-guided munitions is set to increase by 40 per cent by 2007. NATO Response Force The NATO Response Force will provide a hightech, flexible, rapidly deployable, interoperable and sustainable force, including land, sea, and air elements, capable of carrying out the full range of Alliance missions. The development of this high-readiness force will also serve as a catalyst for promoting improvements and greater interoperability in Alliance military capabilities to ensure their continuing transformation to meet evolving security challenges. Following a first force-generation conference in July 2003, a prototype force was launched in October 2003. An initial operational capability is expected to be ready by October 2004 and the force is due to be fully operational by October 2006. It will then number some 21,000 troops and have dedicated cutting-edge fighter aircraft, ships, army vehicles, combat service support, logistics, communications, and intelligence. It will be able to deploy to a crisis area within five days and sustain itself for 30 days. New command structure Allied leaders in Prague endorsed the outline of a leaner, more efficient, effective and deployable military command structure under two strategic commands, one operational and the other functional. The details of the new command structure were finalised in June 2003. It reflects the need for smaller, more flexible and rapidly deployable forces, better suited to NATO's new missions. The number of commands has been reduced from 20 to 11 and their responsibilities have been redefined. All operational headquarters now come under the Allied Command Operations at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), based in Belgium. It is supported by two joint force commands, able to generate a landbased headquarters for Combined Joint Task Forces (CJTF), and a robust but more limited standing joint headquarters from which a seabased CJTF headquarters can be drawn. CJTFs are flexible command structures that let military commanders draw on services from various countries to match the specific requirements of a particular military operation. A new Allied Command Transformation (ACT) oversees the continuing transformation of NATO's capabilities and promotes the interoperability of its forces. Replacing the previous Atlantic Command, it is based in Norfolk, Virginia, United States, but also has a presence in Europe. The fact that the Supreme Allied Commander for Transformation is also Commander of the US Joint Forces Command, the internal change engine for US forces, brings obvious advantages. ACT will play a key role in adapting capabilities and developing doctrine for the new NATO Response Force. Combating new threats
Five initiatives were launched to strengthen Alliance capabilities against nuclear, biological and chemical weapons: a prototype deployable analytical laboratory; an event response team; a virtual centre for excellence on defence against such weapons; a NATO stockpile of agents for biological and chemical defence; and a disease surveillance system. Moreover, a NATO Missile Defence feasibility study is examining options for protecting Alliance territory, forces and populations against the full range of missile threats. Capabilities to defend against cyber attack are also being strengthened. On 1 December 2003, a new multinational Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Defence Battalion achieved its initial operational capability. Based in Liberec in the northern part of the Czech Republic, the battalion is due to reach final operational capability for NATO operations in July 2004. At the time of its launch, 13 countries were participating in the formation of the battalion: Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.
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| © NATO - OTAN 2004 - | NATO Public Diplomacy Division 1110 Brussels, Belgium - E-mail: natodoc@hq.nato.int |
