NATO will increase its high readiness forces to more than 300,000

The leaders of the NATO At the summit to be held in Madrid on Wednesday and Thursday, they hope to agree on an increase in their high-availability forces to “more than 300,000,” the Allied Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, reported today at a press conference prior to the meeting.

In addition, he added that the heads of State and Government of the Alliance they will decide to reinforce some of the battalions deployed in Eastern European countries at the brigade level.

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In Madrid, “we will transform the Response Force of the NATO. And we will increase the number of our high readiness forces to well over 300,000 troops,” Stoltenberg announced.

The NATO Response Force, a highly prepared and technologically advanced multinational force made up of ground, air, sea and Special Operations Forces components that the Alliance can rapidly deploy wherever needed, currently has 40,000 troops.

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To carry out this reinforcement, NATO plans to have more prepositioned equipment and stockpiles of military supplies, the deployment of more capabilities -such as air defense-, the reinforcement of command and control and improved defense plans, with “pre-assigned” forces to defend certain allies.

These troops, he specified Stoltenbergthey will exercise together with the country’s defense forces and become familiar with the local terrain, facilities and our new pre-positioned reserves”, all so “that they can respond smoothly and quickly to any emergency”.

These initiatives represent “the largest revision of our deterrence and collective defense since the Cold War”, said the Norwegian politician.

He also stated that at the summit “we will strengthen our battalions in the eastern part of the Alliance up to the brigade level.”

After the attack of Russia a Ukraine in 2014, the NATO decided to install four multinational battalions in Poland and the Baltic countries, while the war launched by Moscow this year against its neighbor has led the allies to double their number and deploy another four in Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia.

Stoltenberg He specified that he hopes that this conversion from battalion to brigade will take place in “some” of these countries and argued that there is no single solution that fits all, since it depends on the “needs” of each ally.

The Allied Secretary General also referred to the fact that NATO will approve a new Strategic Concept in Madrid, the document that will direct its actions in the next decade in response to “a new security reality” and that it will mean “a fundamental change in deterrence and the defense” of the Alliance.

“It will guide us in an era of strategic competition”he said, hoping that the new Strategic Concept “makes it clear that allies regard Russia as the most significant and direct threat to our security.”

In the Strategic Concept currently in force, adopted at the Lisbon summit in 2010, the allies still classify Russia as a strategic partner.

Instead, Stoltenberg He explained that that country “has moved away from the dialogue that we have tried to maintain for many years” and that the agreements signed with Moscow are no longer working “simply because it has chosen confrontation over dialogue.”

“We have to respond to that reality. Hence the fundamental change in our deterrence and defense”, he indicated, although he acknowledged that it will continue to be necessary to maintain “lines of communication” with Russia to avoid incidents.

On the other hand, he assured that the Strategic Concept that comes out of Madrid “will address for the first time” China and “the challenges it poses to our security, interests and values”, as well as the evolution of other threats and challenges, including terrorism, cyberspace and hybrid warfare.

Source: Elcomercio

Ronald Payne

I, Ronald Payne, am a journalist and author who dedicated his life to telling the stories that need to be said. I have over 7 years of experience as a reporter and editor, covering everything from politics to business to crime.