Breedlove: NATO Needs Better Response Force for Russian Threat

Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, the NATO commander, said Monday that U.S. troops would be part of a new rapid response force within the alliance aimed at deterring what he called Russian President Vladimir Putin's "hybrid war" in Eastern Europe.

The Air Force 4-star laid out his plan for improvements to the response force in two public appearances Monday first at the Atlantic Council, a Washington D.C. think tank, and the Air Force Association's Air and Space Conference in the afternoon.

Referring to the ongoing military conflict as a new "hybrid war," Breedlove explained that the NATO Response Force, or NRF, is accommodating a series of new efforts to be better equipped to respond should the circumstances in Ukraine continue to escalate.

The NRF is a multi-national rapid response force of roughly 25,000 troops assembled to protect the alliances' interests and, among other things, enforce NATO's widely known Article V stipulation. Article V of the NATO constitution commits each nation to regard any attack upon a member nation to be equivalent to an armed attack against them all.

"We have to adapt our responsiveness inside the NRF so that we have a force that can respond at speed to address this new model of hybrid warfare we have seen out of Russia. The entire NRF will become more responsive," Breedlove told the audience at the Air and Space Conference.

He explained that U.S. forces need to be a part of the proposed new group within the existing NATO Reaction Force that could deploy against a threat within 48 hours, Breedlove said in remarks to the Atlantic Council.

Last week at the NATO summit in Wales, President Obama said the U.S. would support a "spearhead" unit but he did not immediately commit to troops. Breedlove did not give details on how many U.S. troops would be part of the unit or cite the contributions from other member states.

Breedlove's plan to improve the NRF involves a series of initiatives aimed at strengthening the ability of the alliance to respond rapidly to various military contingencies such as an intensified Russian invasion of Ukraine. Breedlove emphasized that NATO had, in recent years, been trying to regard Russia as a partner -- a circumstance which is no longer the case.

"In the past, we have relied upon the NRF. It is, however, not adequate to the task we see in front of us," he added. As a result, NATO will create what Breedlove referred to as a "very high speed response section of the NRF," which will be able to respond to military challenges in a matter of days.

At the Wales meeting, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said a multi-national force of several thousand troops with a headquarters in Eastern Europe would shore up the 28-member alliance's commitment to NATO's Article V on collective defense.

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Breedlove: NATO Needs Better Response Force for Russian Threat