BRUSSELS — Rejecting charges of engaging in a Cold War-style arms race with Russia, the U.S. and its NATO allies approved military upgrades Wednesday that should help them come to the aid of a threatened alliance member faster, with better equipment and more firepower.
“We stand united in the way we are addressing the challenges we face,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.
Meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter and counterparts from Canada and NATO’s European member nations ordered an increase in the strength of the alliance’s Response Force, which was 13,000 at the start of 2015, to as many as 40,000.
They also added air, sea and special forces units to the force, which includes a highly mobile, multinational “spearhead” brigade of 5,000 ground troops the ministers ordered to be formed in February so NATO can reinforce any alliance member under threat within 48 hours.
Ministers also made it simpler and quicker for NATO generals and civilian officials to mobilize the force and bring it into action, Stoltenberg told a news conference. He said NATO will also develop more detailed advance plans to use in the case of crisis, and that a new joint logistics headquarters will be opened to help the NATO force deploy faster with the gear and supplies it needs.
Stoltenberg said the alliance revamp was in large part caused by Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, its alleged and continuing military incursion in eastern Ukraine, its ability to speedily mobilize large numbers of troops, and its escalating rhetoric about use of nuclear weapons. But the NATO chief said the alliance’s sole goal is to protect itself.
“We do not seek confrontation. And we do not want a new arms race,” he said. “We want to keep our nations safe. And faced with many challenges from many directions, we need to be prepared.”
Russia too has been increasing its military capacities. Last week, it said it will add over 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles this year alone. In early December, it flexed its muscle by airlifting state-of-the art Iskander missiles, which can be fitted with nuclear or conventional warheads, to its westernmost Baltic territory of Kaliningrad.
They were later pulled back, but the deployment clearly served as a demonstration of the Russian military’s readiness to quickly raise the ante in a crisis.
On Tuesday, Carter announced during a visit to Estonia that the U.S. will spread about 250 tanks, armored vehicles and other military equipment across a half-dozen of NATO’s easternmost members that feel most at risk from Russia. Stoltenberg said the Pentagon chief also offered transport aircraft, air-to-air refueling capability, special forces and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets to support NATO’s Response Force — a high-end contribution Stoltenberg said “completes the picture of a truly trans-Atlantic effort to reinforce our collective defense.”
