Agreed
by the
Heads
of State
and
Government
participating
in the
meeting
of the
North
Atlantic
Council
in Rome
on 7th-8th
Nov. 1991 |
The
Alliance's New Strategic Concept
At their meeting in London in July 1990, NATO's Heads of State
and Government agreed on the need to transform the Atlantic Alliance
to reflect the new, more promising, era in Europe. While reaffirming
the basic principles on which the Alliance has rested since its
inception, they recognized that the developments taking place
in Europe would have a far-reaching impact on the way in which
its aims would be met in future. In particular, they set in hand
a fundamental strategic review. The resulting new Strategic Concept
is set out below.
Part
I - The Strategic
Context
- The new strategic
environment
- Security challenges
and risks
Part
II - Alliance Objectives And Security Functions
- The purpose
of the Alliance
- The nature
of the Alliance
- The fundamental
tasks of the Alliance
Part
III - A Broad Approach To Security
- Protecting
peace in a new Europe
- Dialogue
- Co-operation
- Collective
Defence
- Management
of crisis and conflict prevention
Part
IV - Guidelines For Defence
- Principles
of Alliance strategy
- The Alliance's
new force posture
- The
Missions of Alliance Military Forces
- Guidelines
for the Alliance's Force Posture
- Characteristics
of Conventional Forces
- Characteristics
of Nuclear Forces
Part
V - Conclusion
Part I - the Strategic Context
The new strategic environment
- Since 1989, profound political changes have taken place
in Central and Eastern Europe which have radically improved
the security environment in which the North Atlantic Alliance
seeks to achieve its objectives. The USSR's former satellites
have fully recovered their sovereignty. The Soviet Union
and its Republics are undergoing radical change. The three
Baltic Republics have regained their independence. Soviet
forces have left Hungary and Czechoslovakia and are due to
complete their withdrawal from Poland and Germany by 1994.
All the countries that were formerly adversaries of NATO
have dismantled the Warsaw Pact and rejected ideological
hostility to the West. They have, in varying degrees, embraced
and begun to implement policies aimed at achieving pluralistic
democracy, the rule of law, respect for human rights and
a market economy. The political division of Europe that was
the source of the military confrontation of the Cold War
period has thus been overcome.
- In the West, there have also been significant changes.
Germany has been united and remains a full member of the
Alliance and of European institutions. The fact that the
countries of the European Community are working towards the
goal of political union, including the development of a European
security identity, and the enhancement of the role of the
WEU are important factors for European security. The strengthening
of the security dimension in the process of European integration,
and the enhancement of the role and responsibilities of European
members of the Alliance are positive and mutually reinforcing.
The development of a European security identity and defence
role, reflected in the strengthening of the European pillar
within the Alliance, will not only serve the interests of
the European states but also reinforce the integrity and
effectiveness of the Alliance as a whole.
- Substantial progress in arms control has already enhanced
stability and security by lowering arms levels and increasing
military transparency and mutual confidence (including through
the Stockholm CDE agreement of 1986, the INF Treaty of 1987
and the CSCE agreements and confidence and security-building
measures of 1990). Implementation of the 1991 START Treaty
will lead to increased stability through substantial and
balanced reductions in the field of strategic nuclear arms.
Further far- reaching changes and reductions in the nuclear
forces of the United States and the Soviet Union will be pursued
following President Bush's September 1991 initiative. Also
of great importance is the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces
in Europe (CFE), signed at the 1990 Paris Summit; its implementation
will remove the Alliance's numerical inferiority in key conventional
weapon systems and provide for effective verification procedures.
All these developments will also result in an unprecedented
degree of military transparency in Europe, thus increasing
predictability and mutual confidence. Such transparency would
be further enhanced by the achievement of an Open Skies regime.
There are welcome prospects for further advances in arms
control in conventional and nuclear forces, and for the achievement
of a global ban on chemical weapons, as well as restricting
de-stabilising arms exports and the proliferation of certain
weapons technologies.
- The CSCE process, which began in Helsinki in 1975, has
already contributed significantly to overcoming the division
of Europe. As a result of the Paris Summit, it now includes
new institutional arrangements and provides a contractual
frame- work for consultation and cooperation that can play
a constructive role, complementary to that of NATO and the
process of European integration, in preserving peace.
- The historic changes that have occurred in Europe, which
have led to the fulfilment of a number of objectives set
out in the Harmel Report, have significantly improved the overall
security of the Allies. The monolithic, massive and potentially
immediate threat which was the principal concern of the Alliance
in its first forty years has disappeared. On the other hand,
a great deal of uncertainty about the future and risks to
the security of the Alliance remain.
- The new Strategic Concept looks forward to a security
environment in which the positive changes referred to above
have come to fruition. In particular, it assumes both the
completion of the planned withdrawal of Soviet military forces
from Central and Eastern Europe and the full implementation
by all parties of the 1990 CFE Treaty. The implementation of
the Strategic Concept will thus be kept under review in the
light of the evolving security environment and in particular
progress in fulfilling these assumptions. Further adaptation
will be made to the extent necessary.
Security
challenges and risks
- The security challenges and risks which NATO faces are
different in nature from what they were in the past. The
threat of a simultaneous, full-scale attack on all of NATO's
European fronts has effectively been removed and thus no
longer provides the focus for Allied strategy. Particularly
in Central Europe, the risk of a surprise attack has been
substantially reduced, and minimum Allied warning time has
increased accordingly.
- In contrast with the predominant threat of the past,
the risks to Allied security that remain are multi-faceted
in nature and multi-directional, which makes them hard to
predict and assess. NATO must be capable of responding to
such risks if stability in Europe and the security of Alliance
members are to be preserved. These risks can arise in various
ways.
- Risks to Allied security are less likely to result from
calculated aggression against the territory of the Allies,
but rather from the adverse consequences of instabilities
that may arise from the serious economic, social and political
difficulties, including ethnic rivalries and territorial disputes,
which are faced by many countries in central and eastern Europe.
The tensions which may result, as long as they remain limited,
should not directly threaten the security and territorial
integrity of members of the Alliance. They could, however,
lead to crises inimical to European stability and even to armed
conflicts, which could involve outside powers or spill over
into NATO countries, having a direct effect on the security
of the Alliance.
- In the particular case of the Soviet Union, the risks
and uncertainties that accompany the process of change cannot
be seen in isolation from the fact that its conventional
forces are significantly larger than those of any other European
State and its large nuclear arsenal comparable only with that
of the United States. These capabilities have to be taken into
account if stability and security in Europe are to be preserved.
- The Allies also wish to maintain peaceful and non- adversarial
relations with the countries in the Southern Mediterranean
and Middle East. The stability and peace of the countries
on the southern periphery of Europe are important for the security
of the Alliance, as the 1991 Gulf war has shown. This is
all the more so because of the build-up of military power and
the proliferation of weapons technologies in the area, including
weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles capable
of reaching the territory of some member states of the Alliance.
- Any armed attack on the territory of the Allies, from
whatever direction, would be covered by Articles 5 and 6
of the Washington Treaty. However, Alliance security must also
take account of the global context. Alliance security interests
can be affected by other risks of a wider nature, including
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, disruption
of the flow of vital resources and actions of terrorism and
sabotage. Arrangements exist within the Alliance for consultation
among the Allies under Article 4 of the Washington Treaty and,
where appropriate, coordination of their efforts including
their responses to such risks.
- From the point of view of Alliance strategy, these different
risks have to be seen in different ways. Even in a non-adversarial
and cooperative relationship, Soviet military capability
and build-up potential, including its nuclear dimension, still
con- stitute the most significant factor of which the Alliance
has to take account in maintaining the strategic balance
in Europe. The end of East-West confrontation has, however,
greatly reduced the risk of major conflict in Europe. On the
other hand, there is a greater risk of different crises arising,
which could develop quickly and would require a rapid response,
but they are likely to be of a lesser magnitude.
- Two conclusions can be drawn from this analysis of the
strategic context. The first is that the new environment
does not change the purpose or the security functions of the
Alliance, but rather underlines their enduring validity. The
second, on the other hand, is that the changed environment
offers new opportunities for the Alliance to frame its strategy
within a broad approach to security.
Part II - Alliance Objectives And Security Functions
The purpose of the Alliance
- NATO's essential purpose, set out in the Washington Treaty
and reiterated in the London Declaration, is to safeguard
the freedom and security of all its members by political
and military means in accordance with the principles of the
United Nations Charter. Based on common values of democracy,
human rights and the rule of law, the Alliance has worked
since its inception for the establishment of a just and lasting
peaceful order in Europe. This Alliance objective remains
unchanged.
The nature of the Alliance
- NATO embodies the transatlantic link by which the security
of North America is permanently tied to the security of Europe.
It is the practical expression of effective collective effort
among its members in support of their common interests.
- The fundamental operating principle of the Alliance is
that of common commitment and mutual co-operation among sovereign
states in support of the indivisibility of security for all
of its members. Solidarity within the Alliance, given substance
and effect by NATO's daily work in both the political and
military spheres, ensures that no single Ally is forced to
rely upon its own national efforts alone in dealing with
basic security challenges. Without depriving member states
of their right and duty to assume their sovereign responsibilities
in the field of defence, the Alliance enables them through
collective effort to enhance their ability to realise their
essential national security objectives.
- The resulting sense of equal security amongst the members
of the Alliance, regardless of differences in their circumstances
or in their national military capabilities relative to each
other, contributes to overall stability within Europe and
thus to the creation of conditions conducive to increased
co-operation both among Alliance members and with others.
It is on this basis that members of the Alliance, together
with other nations, are able to pursue the development of
co-operative structures of security for a Europe whole and
free.
The fundamental tasks of the Alliance
- The means by which the Alliance pursues its security policy
to preserve the peace will continue to include the maintenance
of a military capability sufficient to prevent war and to
provide for effective defence; an overall capability to manage
successfully crises affecting the security of its members;
and the pursuit of political efforts favouring dialogue with
other nations and the active search for a co-operative approach
to European security, including in the field of arms control
and disarmament.
- To achieve its essential purpose, the Alliance performs
the following fundamental security tasks:
- To provide one of the indispensable foundations for
a stable security environment in Europe, based on the
growth of democratic institutions and commitment to the
peaceful resolution of disputes, in which no country
would be able to intimidate or coerce any European nation
or to impose hegemony through the threat or use of force.
- To serve, as provided for in Article
4 of the North Atlantic Treaty, as a transatlantic
forum for Allied consultations on any issues that affect
their vital interests, including possible developments
posing risks for members' security, and for appropriate
co-ordination of their efforts in fields of common
concern.
- To deter and defend against any threat of aggression
against the territory of any NATO member state.
- To preserve the strategic balance within Europe.
- Other European institutions such as the EC, WEU and CSCE
also have roles to play, in accordance with their respective
responsibilities and purposes, in these fields. The creation
of a European identity in security and defence will underline
the preparedness of the Europeans to take a greater share
of responsibility for their security and will help to reinforce
transatlantic solidarity. However the extent of its membership
and of its capabilities gives NATO a particular position
in that it can perform all four core security functions.
NATO is the essential forum for consultation among the Allies
and the forum for agreement on policies bearing on the security
and defence commitments of its members under the Washington
Treaty.
- In defining the core functions of the Alliance in the terms
set out above, member states confirm that the scope of the
Alliance as well as their rights and obligations as provided
for in the Washington Treaty remain unchanged.
Part III - A Broad Approach To Security Protecting peace in a new Europe
- The Alliance has always sought to achieve its objectives
of safeguarding the security and territorial integrity of
its members, and establishing a just and lasting peaceful
order in Europe, through both political and military means.
This comprehensive approach remains the basis of the Alliance's
security policy.
- But what is new is that, with the radical changes in the
security situation, the opportunities for achieving Alliance
objectives through political means are greater than ever
before. It is now possible to draw all the consequences from
the fact that security and stability have political, economic,
social, and environmental elements as well as the indispensable
defence dimension. Managing the diversity of challenges facing
the Alliance requires a broad approach to security. This
is reflected in three mutually reinforcing elements of Allied
security policy; dialogue, co-operation, and the maintenance
of a collective defence capability.
- The Alliance's active pursuit of dialogue and co-operation,
underpinned by its commitment to an effective collective
defence capability, seeks to reduce the risks of conflict
arising out of misunderstanding or design; to build increased
mutual understanding and confidence among all European states;
to help manage crises affecting the security of the Allies;
and to expand the opportunities for a genuine partnership
among all European countries in dealing with common security
problems.
- In this regard, the Alliance's arms control and disarmament
policy contributes both to dialogue and to co-operation with
other nations, and thus will continue to play a major role
in the achievement of the Alliance's security objectives.
The Allies seek, through arms control and disarmament, to
enhance security and stability at the lowest possible level
of forces consistent with the requirements of defence. Thus,
the Alliance will continue to ensure that defence and arms
control and disarmament objectives remain in harmony.
- In fulfilling its fundamental objectives and core security
functions, the Alliance will continue to respect the legitimate
security interests of others, and seek the peaceful resolution
of disputes as set forth in the Charter of the United Nations.
The Alliance will promote peaceful and friendly international
relations and support democratic institutions. In this respect,
it recognizes the valuable contribution being made by other
organizations such as the European Community and the CSCE,
and that the roles of these institutions and of the Alliance
are complementary.
Dialogue
- The new situation in Europe has multiplied the opportunities
for dialogue on the part of the Alliance with the Soviet
Union and the other countries of Central and Eastern Europe.
The Alliance has established regular diplomatic liaison and
military contacts with the countries of Central and Eastern
Europe as provided for in the London Declaration. The Alliance
will further promote dialogue through regular diplomatic
liaison, including an intensified exchange of views and information
on security policy issues. Through such means the Allies,
individually and collectively, will seek to make full use
of the unprecedented opportunities afforded by the growth
of freedom and democracy throughout Europe and encourage
greater mutual understanding of respective security concerns,
to increase transparency and predictability in security affairs,
and thus to reinforce stability. The military can help to
overcome the divisions of the past, not least through intensified
military contacts and greater military transparency. The
Alliance's pursuit of dialogue will provide a foundation
for greater co-operation throughout Europe and the ability
to resolve differences and conflicts by peaceful means.
Co-operation
- The Allies are also committed to pursue co-operation with
all states in Europe on the basis of the principles set out
in the Charter of Paris for a New Europe. They will seek
to develop broader and productive patterns of bilateral and
multilateral co-operation in all relevant fields of European
security, with the aim, inter alia, of preventing crises
or, should they arise, ensuring their effective management.
Such partnership between the members of the Alliance and
other nations in dealing with specific problems will be an
essential factor in moving beyond past divisions towards
one Europe whole and free. This policy of co-operation is
the expression of the inseparability of security among European
states. It is built upon a common recognition among Alliance
members that the persistence of new political, economic or
social divisions across the continent could lead to future
instability, and such divisions must thus be diminished.
Collective Defence
- The political approach to security will thus become increasingly
important. Nonetheless, the military dimension remains essential.
The maintenance of an adequate military capability and clear
preparedness to act collectively in the common defence remain
central to the Alliance's security objectives. Such a capability,
together with political solidarity, is required in order
to prevent any attempt at coercion or intimidation, and to
guarantee that military aggression directed against the Alliance
can never be perceived as an option with any prospect of
success. It is equally indispensable so that dialogue and
co-operation can be undertaken with confidence and achieve
their desired results.
Management of crisis and conflict prevention
- In the new political and strategic environment in Europe,
the success of the Alliance's policy of preserving peace
and preventing war depends even more than in the past on
the effectiveness of preventive diplomacy and successful
management of crises affecting the security of its members.
Any major aggression in Europe is much more unlikely and
would be preceded by significant warning time. Though on
a much smaller scale, the range and variety of other potential
risks facing the Alliance are less predictable than before.
- In these new circumstances there are increased opportunities
for the successful resolution of crises at an early stage.
The success of Alliance policy will require a coherent approach
determined by the Alliance's political authorities choosing
and co-ordinating appropriate crisis management measures
as required from a range of political and other measures,
including those in the military field. Close control by the
political authorities of the Alliance will be applied from
the outset and at all stages. Appropriate consultation and
decision making procedures are essential to this end.
- The potential of dialogue and co-operation within all of
Europe must be fully developed in order to help to defuse
crises and to prevent conflicts since the Allies' security
is inseparably linked to that of all other states in Europe.
To this end, the Allies will support the role of the CSCE
process and its institutions. Other bodies including the
European Community, Western European Union and United Nations
may also have an important role to play.
Part IV - Guidelines For Defence
Principles of Alliance strategy
- The diversity of challenges now facing the Alliance thus
requires a broad approach to security. The transformed political
and strategic environment enables the Alliance to change
a number of important features of its military strategy and
to set out new guidelines, while reaffirming proven fundamental
principles. At the London Summit, it was therefore agreed
to prepare a new military strategy and a revised force posture
responding to the changed circumstances.
- Alliance strategy will continue to reflect a number of
fundamental principles. The Alliance is purely defensive
in purpose: none of its weapons will ever be used except
in self-defence, and it does not consider itself to be anyone's
adversary. The Allies will maintain military strength adequate
to convince any potential aggressor that the use of force
against the territory of one of the Allies would meet collective
and effective action by all of them and that the risks involved
in initiating conflict would outweigh any foreseeable gains.
The forces of the Allies must therefore be able to defend
Alliance frontiers, to stop an aggressor's advance as far
forward as possible, to maintain or restore the territorial
integrity of Allied nations and to terminate war rapidly
by making an aggressor reconsider his decision, cease his
attack and withdraw. The role of the Alliance's military
forces is to assure the territorial integrity and political
independence of its member states, and thus contribute to
peace and stability in Europe.
- The security of all Allies is indivisible: an attack on
one is an attack on all. Alliance solidarity and strategic
unity are accordingly crucial prerequisites for collective
security. The achievement of the Alliance's objectives depends
critically on the equitable sharing of roles, risks and responsibilities,
as well as the benefits, of common defence. The presence
of North American conventional and US nuclear forces in Europe
remains vital to the security of Europe, which is inseparably
linked to that of North America. As the process of developing
a European security identity and defence role progresses,
and is reflected in the strengthening of the European pillar
within the Alliance, the European members of the Alliance
will assume a greater degree of the responsibility for the
defence of Europe.
- The collective nature of Alliance defence is embodied in
practical arrangements that enable the Allies to enjoy the
crucial political, military and resource advantages of collective
defence, and prevent the renationalisation of defence policies,
without depriving the Allies of their sovereignty. These
arrangements are based on an integrated military structure
as well as on co-operation and co-ordination agreements.
Key features include collective force planning; common operational
planning; multinational formations; the stationing of forces
outside home territory, where appropriate on a mutual basis;
crisis management and reinforcement arrangements; procedures
for consultation; common standards and procedures for equipment,
training and logistics; joint and combined exercises; and
infrastructure, armaments and logistics co-operation.
- To protect peace and to prevent war or any kind of coercion,
the Alliance will maintain for the foreseeable future an
appropriate mix of nuclear and conventional forces based
in Europe and kept up to date where necessary, although at
a significantly reduced level. Both elements are essential
to Alliance security and cannot substitute one for the other.
Conventional forces contribute to war prevention by ensuring
that no potential aggressor could contemplate a quick or
easy victory, or territorial gains, by conventional means.
Taking into account the diversity of risks with which the
Alliance could be faced, it must maintain the forces necessary
to provide a wide range of conventional response options.
But the Alliance's conventional forces alone cannot ensure
the prevention of war. Nuclear weapons make a unique contribution
in rendering the risks of any aggression incalculable and
unacceptable. Thus, they remain essential to preserve peace.
The Alliance's new force posture
- At the London Summit, the Allies concerned agreed to move
away, where appropriate, from the concept of forward defence
towards a reduced forward presence, and to modify the principle
of flexible response to reflect a reduced reliance on nuclear
weapons. The changes stemming from the new strategic environment
and the altered risks now facing the Alliance enable significant
modifications to be made in the missions of the Allies' military
forces and in their posture.
The Missions of Alliance Military Forces
- The primary role of Alliance military forces, to guarantee
the security and territorial integrity of member states,
remains unchanged. But this role must take account of the
new strategic environment, in which a single massive and
global threat has given way to diverse and multi-directional
risks. Alliance forces have different functions to perform
in peace, crisis and war.
- In peace, the role of Allied military forces is to guard
against risks to the security of Alliance members; to contribute
towards the maintenance of stability and balance in Europe;
and to ensure that peace is preserved. They can contribute
to dialogue and co-operation throughout Europe by their participation
in confidence-building activities, including those which
enhance transparency and improve communication; as well as
in verification of arms control agreements. Allies could,
further, be called upon to contribute to global stability
and peace by providing forces for United Nations missions.
- In the event of crises which might lead to a military threat
to the security of Alliance members, the Alliance's military
forces can complement and reinforce political actions within
a broad approach to security, and thereby contribute to the
management of such crises and their peaceful resolution.
This requires that these forces have a capability for measured
and timely responses in such circumstances; the capability
to deter action against any Ally and, in the event that aggression
takes place, to respond to and repel it as well as to reestablish
the territorial integrity of member states.
- While in the new security environment a general war in
Europe has become highly unlikely, it cannot finally be ruled
out. The Alliance's military forces, which have as their
fundamental mission to protect peace, have to provide the
essential insurance against potential risks at the minimum
level necessary to prevent war of any kind, and, should aggression
occur, to restore peace. Hence the need for the capabilities
and the appropriate mix of forces already described.
Guidelines for the Alliance's Force
Posture
- To implement its security objectives and strategic principles
in the new environment, the organization of the Allies' forces
must be adapted to provide capabilities that can contribute
to protecting peace, managing crises that affect the security
of Alliance members, and preventing war, while retaining
at all times the means to defend, if necessary, all Allied
territory and to restore peace. The posture of Allies' forces
will conform to the guidelines developed in the following
paragraphs.
- The size, readiness, availability and deployment of the
Alliance's military forces will continue to reflect its strictly
defensive nature and will be adapted accordingly to the new
strategic environment including arms control agreements.
This means in particular:
- that the overall size of the Allies' forces, and in
many cases their readiness, will be reduced;
- that the maintenance of a comprehensive in-place linear
defensive posture in the central region will no longer
be required. The peacetime geographical distribution
of forces will ensure a sufficient military presence
throughout the territory of the Alliance, including where
necessary forward deployment of appropriate forces. Regional
considerations and, in particular, geostrategic differences
within the Alliance will have to be taken into account,
including the shorter warning times to which the northern
and southern regions will be subject compared with the
central region and, in the southern region, the potential
for instability and the military capabilities in the
adjacent areas.
- To ensure that at this reduced level the Allies' forces
can play an effective role both in managing crises and in
countering aggression against any Ally, they will require
enhanced flexibility and mobility and an assured capability
for augmentation when necessary. For these reasons:
- Available forces will include, in a limited but militarily
significant proportion, ground, air and sea immediate
and rapid reaction elements able to respond to a wide
range of eventualities, many of which are unforeseeable.
They will be of sufficient quality, quantity and readiness
to deter a limited attack and, if required, to defend
the territory of the Allies against attacks, particularly
those launched without long warning time.
- The forces of the Allies will be structured so as to
permit their military capability to be built up when
necessary. This ability to build up by reinforcement,
by mobilising reserves, or by reconstituting forces,
must be in proportion to potential threats to Alliance
security, including the possibility - albeit unlikely,
but one that prudence dictates should not be ruled out
- of a major conflict. Consequently, capabilities for
timely reinforcement and resupply both within Europe
and from North America will be of critical importance.
- Appropriate force structures and procedures, including
those that would provide an ability to build up, deploy
and draw down forces quickly and discriminately, will
be developed to permit measured, flexible and timely
responses in order to reduce and defuse tensions. These
arrangements must be exercised regularly in peacetime.
- In the event of use of forces, including the deployment
of reaction and other available reinforcing forces as
an instrument of crisis management, the Alliance's political
authorities will, as before, exercise close control over
their employment at all stages. Existing procedures will
be reviewed in the light of the new missions and posture
of Alliance forces.
Characteristics of Conventional Forces
- It is essential that the Allies' military forces have a
credible ability to fulfil their functions in peace, crisis
and war in a way appropriate to the new security environment.
This will be reflected in force and equipment levels; readiness
and availability; training and exercises; deployment and
employment options; and force build-up capabilities, all
of which will be adjusted accordingly. The conventional forces
of the Allies will include, in addition to immediate and
rapid reaction forces, main defence forces, which will provide
the bulk of forces needed to ensure the Alliance's territorial
integrity and the unimpeded use of their lines of communication;
and augmentation forces, which will provide a means of reinforcing
existing forces in a particular region. Main defence and
augmentation forces will comprise both active and mobilisable
elements.
- Ground, maritime and air forces will have to co-operate
closely and combine and assist each other in operations aimed
at achieving agreed objectives. These forces will consist
of the following:
- Ground forces, which are essential
to hold or regain territory. The majority will normally
be at lower states of readiness and, overall, there will
be a greater reliance on mobilization and reserves. All
categories of ground forces will require demonstrable
combat effectiveness together with an appropriately enhanced
capability for flexible deployment.
- Maritime forces, which because of
their inherent mobility, flexibility and endurance, make
an important contribution to the Alliance's crisisresponse
options. Their essential missions are to ensure sea control
in order to safeguard the Allies' sea lines of communication,
to support land and amphibious operations, and to protect
the deployment of the Alliance's sea-based nuclear deterrent.
- Air forces, whose ability to fulfil
their fundamental roles in both independent air and combined
operations - counter-air, air interdiction and offensive
air support - as well as to contribute to surveillance,
reconnaissance and electronic warfare operations, is
essential to the overall effectiveness of the Allies'
military forces. Their role in supporting operations,
on land and at sea, will require appropriate long-distance
airlift and air refuelling capabilities. Air defence
forces, including modern air command and control systems,
are required to ensure a secure air defence environment.
- In light of the potential risks it poses, the proliferation
of ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction should
be given special consideration. Solution of this problem
will require complementary approaches including, for example,
export control and missile defences.
- Alliance strategy is not dependent on a chemical warfare
capability. The Allies remain committed to the earliest possible
achievement of a global, comprehensive, and effectively verifiable
ban on all chemical weapons. But, even after implementation
of a global ban, precautions of a purely defensive nature
will need to be maintained.
- In the new security environment and given the reduced overall
force levels in future, the ability to work closely together,
which will facilitate the cost effective use of Alliance
resources, will be particularly important for the achievement
of the missions of the Allies' forces. The Alliance's collective
defence arrangements in which, for those concerned, the integrated
military structure, including multinational forces, plays
the key role, will be essential in this regard. Integrated
and multinational European structures, as they are further
developed in the context of an emerging European Defence
Identity, will also increasingly have a similarly important
role to play in enhancing the Allies' ability to work together
in the common defence. Allies' efforts to achieve maximum
co-operation will be based on the common guidelines for defence
defined above. Practical arrangements will be developed to
ensure the necessary mutual transparency and complementarity
between the European security and defence identity and the
Alliance.
- In order to be able to respond flexibly to a wide range
of possible contingencies, the Allies concerned will require
effective surveillance and intelligence, flexible command
and control, mobility within and between regions, and appropriate
logistics capabilities, including transport capacities. Logistic
stocks must be sufficient to sustain all types of forces
in order to permit effective defence until resupply is available.
The capability of the Allies concerned to build-up larger,
adequately equipped and trained forces, in a timely manner
and to a level appropriate to any risk to Alliance security,
will also make an essential contribution to crisis management
and defence. This capability will include the ability to
reinforce any area at risk within the territory of the Allies
and to establish a multinational presence when and where
this is needed. Elements of all three force categories will
be capable of being employed flexibly as part of both intra-European
and transatlantic reinforcement. Proper use of these capabilities
will require control of the necessary lines of communication
as well as appropriate support and exercise arrangements.
Civil resources will be of increasing relevance in this context.
- For the Allies concerned, collective defence arrangements
will rely increasingly on multinational forces, complementing
national commitments to NATO. Multinational forces demonstrate
the Alliance's resolve to maintain a credible collective
defence; enhance Alliance cohesion; reinforce the transatlantic
partnership and strengthen the European pillar. Multinational
forces, and in particular reaction forces, reinforce solidarity.
They can also provide a way of deploying more capable formations
than might be available purely nationally, thus helping to
make more efficient use of scarce defence resources. This
may include a highly integrated, multinational approach to
specific tasks and functions.
Characteristics of Nuclear Forces
- The fundamental purpose of the nuclear forces of the Allies
is political: to preserve peace and prevent coercion and
any kind of war. They will continue to fulfil an essential
role by ensuring uncertainty in the mind of any aggressor
about the nature of the Allies' response to military aggression.
They demonstrate that aggression of any kind is not a rational
option. The supreme guarantee of the security of the Allies
is provided by the strategic nuclear forces of the Alliance,
particularly those of the United States; the independent
nuclear forces of the United Kingdom and France, which have
a deterrent role of their own, contribute to the overall
deterrence and security of the Allies.
- A credible Alliance nuclear posture and the demonstration
of Alliance solidarity and common commitment to war prevention
continue to require widespread participation by European
Allies involved in collective defence planning in nuclear
roles, in peacetime basing of nuclear forces on their territory
and in command, control and consultation arrangements. Nuclear
forces based in Europe and committed to NATO provide an essential
political and military link between the European and the
North American members of the Alliance. The Alliance will
therefore maintain adequate nuclear forces in Europe. These
forces need to have the necessary characteristics and appropriate
flexibility and survivability, to be perceived as a credible
and effective element of the Allies' strategy in preventing
war. They will be maintained at the minimum level sufficient
to preserve peace and stability.
- The Allies concerned consider that, with the radical changes
in the security situation, including conventional force levels
in Europe maintained in relative balance and increased reaction
times, NATO's ability to defuse a crisis through diplomatic
and other means or, should it be necessary, to mount a successful
conventional defence will significantly improve. The circumstances
in which any use of nuclear weapons might have to be contemplated
by them are therefore even more remote. They can therefore
significantly reduce their sub-strategic nuclear forces.
They will maintain adequate sub-strategic forces based in
Europe which will provide an essential link with strategic
nuclear forces, reinforcing the trans-Atlantic link. These
will consist solely of dual capable aircraft which could,
if necessary, be supplemented by offshore systems. Sub-strategic
nuclear weapons will, however, not be deployed in normal
circumstances on surface vessels and attack submarines. There
is no requirement for nuclear artillery or ground-launched
short- range nuclear missiles and they will be eliminated.
Part V - Conclusion
- This Strategic Concept reaffirms the defensive nature of
the Alliance and the resolve of its members to safeguard
their security, sovereignty and territorial integrity. The
Alliance's security policy is based on dialogue; co-operation;
and effective collective defence as mutually reinforcing
instruments for preserving the peace. Making full use of
the new opportunities available, the Alliance will maintain
security at the lowest possible level of forces consistent
with the requirements of defence. In this way, the Alliance
is making an essential contribution to promoting a lasting
peaceful order.
- The Allies will continue to pursue vigorously further progress
in arms control and confidence-building measures with the
objective of enhancing security and stability. They will
also play an active part in promoting dialogue and co-operation
between states on the basis of the principles enunciated
in the Paris Charter.
- NATO's strategy will retain the flexibility to reflect
further developments in the politico-military environment,
including progress in the moves towards a European security
identity, and in any changes in the risks to Alliance security.
For the Allies concerned, the Strategic Concept will form
the basis for the further development of the Alliance's defence
policy, its operational concepts, its conventional and nuclear
force posture and its collective defence planning arrangements.
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