Category Archives: NATO

NATO has declared cyberspace a domain of warfare it must operate in and called on the integration of cyber alongside operations. However, as a defensive alliance, it has declared it wont seek offensive cyber capabilities itself, instead relying on the capabilities of voluntary member states.

This approach, while not insurmountable, poses significant challenges to operations, experts claim.

The idea of sovereign cyber effects provided voluntarily by allies is good. But that will not fall under the command and control of the actual NATO commander, David Bailey, senior national security law advisor for Army Cyber Command, said Nov. 19 at the 2019 International Conference on Cyber Conflict U.S. (CyCon U.S.) in Arlington. It will still fall under the command and control of the country that contributes. In my mind, its going to be difficult to achieve that level of coordination that were used to in military operations, even in a NATO context.

Sovereign cyber effects provided voluntarily by allies is the concept NATO is looking to implement. Cyber and NATO experts have explained that if a cyber effect is needed for a particular operation, those with the capability, capacity, authority and access will volunteer to provide it on behalf of the alliance.

Several experts have said members states that are both willing and capable of offensive operations number about a half dozen.

Speaking at the same event, Massimiliano Signoretti, NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence office of the staff judge advocate, noted additional complexities and friction involved in this approach. First, he foresees difficulties in the confidence of a commander, who ultimately doesnt possess the cyber capabilities, to approve and employ them. Moreover, there could be difficulties in maintaining the confidentiality of the nation that is providing the capabilities to that commander.

NATO opened a Cyber Operations Center in August 2018 to provide situational awareness in cyberspace, plan allied cyberspace operations and manage the execution of operations.

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Here are the problems offensive cyber poses for NATO - fifthdomain.com

NATO to modernize AWACS fleet at a cost of $1 billion

NATO wants to eventually replace its Cold War-era early warning aircraft, but will in the meantime upgrade the jets at a cost of $1 billion.

The move to improve the planes, flown by U.S. Air Force and multinational pilots, reflected a need to modernize air reconnaissance assets, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said during a two-day meeting of alliance foreign ministers that opened Wednesday.

I can confirm that we will sign a contract upgrading, modernizing the (current) AWACS fleet, one billion dollars, Stoltenberg said, referring to the Aerial Early Warning and Control planes.

NATO operates 14 Boeing E-3A Sentry aircraft, the first of which were delivered by Boeing in 1982. They are registered in Luxembourg and are among the few military assets owned by the alliance, rather than its 29 member states.

The unit is based at Geilenkirchen, Germany, near the border with the Netherlands in the south. The E-3As are commanded on a rotational basis by either a U.S. Air Force or a German air force major general.

In recent years, the planes have patrolled the Mediterranean Sea and supported NATO exercises over the Baltics, among other missions.

Stoltenberg did not say what specific upgrades NATO was looking at for the E-3As, which are identifiable by their prominent radar dishes and based on the frame of the four-engine Boeing 707 passenger airliner.

However, one likely upgrade would include changing the four old Pratt and Whitney TF-33 jet engines first flown 60 years ago with a modernized, more efficient power plant.

The U.S. Air Force, which operates the largest fleet of E-3s, has also been incrementally modernizing its aircraft, especially the avionics suite and battle management systems.

We are (also) looking into how to replace the AWACS in the future, so after 2035, Stoltenberg said.

Since the E-3 was introduced into service 40 years ago, a number of smaller and cheaper battle management reconnaissance aircraft have been developed, including the twin-jet Boeing E-7, which could be a contender to eventually replace the E-3As.

NATO Sentries were first used in combat during the 1999 Kosovo War, when they controlled air-to-air engagements against Serbian MiG-29s. Five MiGs were shot down by allied fighters during the 78-day bombing campaign.

NATO AWACS aircraft played an important role in other alliance operations, such as in the United States after 9/11, and in Libya and Afghanistan.

Stoltenberg also said that NATO would soon receive its first Northrop-Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk high-altitude surveillance drones, which will give commanders on the ground a better picture of combat situations. NATO signed a contract in 2012 for five of the drones, to be based in Sigonella, Italy, in 2012.

lekic.slobodan@stripes.com

The NATO AWACS aircraft has an updated cockpit and avionics systems that includes five full-color displays providing crew members with customizable engine, navigation and radar data.NATO

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NATO to modernize AWACS fleet at a cost of $1 billion - Stars and Stripes

John VandiverStars and Stripes

NATOs first unmanned aircraft has arrived at an alliance base in southern Italy, where reconnaissance missions are expected to begin next year.

The first of five Alliance Ground Surveillance drones arrived at Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily on Thursday, after completing a 22-hour test flight from Palmdale, Calif., a statement said.

The RQ-4D aircraft, ordered in 2012, are based on the Air Forces Global Hawk Block 40 high-altitude and long endurance drone, but modified to NATO specifications.

This demonstrates that NATO Allies are committed to modernizing the Alliance and investing to deliver key cutting-edge capabilities to the benefit of our shared security, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement.

Allies will collectively own and operate the aircraft and will have access to the data and intelligence that is gathered, NATO said.

The NATO base is operated by the Italian air force but houses U.S. Naval Air Station Sigonella and its thousands of service members as its primary tenant, along with other NATO personnel. The base also serves as a major transportation hub used by all Defense Department services.

A NATO official thanked Italy for co-hosting the new AGS unit. He said it will comprise nearly 600 personnel, and will include a new Data Exploitation and Training Center which will be able to train up to 80 students per year.

The NATO AGS will be co-located with the U.S. Air Force Global Hawks and the U.S. Navy Broad Area Maritime Surveillance unmanned aircraft systems which are (also) in Sigonella, said the official who could not be named in line with NATO regulations. This will provide for synergies in logistics and sustainment.

The arrival of the first drone comes as NATO attempts to get a better handle on security along its southern doorstep, where instability in northern Africa and Syria has been an area of concern.

In 2017, NATO launched a new information hub in Naples tasked with collecting data from Middle East and African countries, in an effort to give early warning on threats such as terrorism and illicit trafficking.

Each of the remotely piloted planes will undergo a system verification phase after arriving at Sigonella. When testing is finished, the aircraft are handed over to the NATO AGS Force. Initial operating capability is expected early next year, NATO said.

The main contributors to the project are the U.S., Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.

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NATO has sent its first drone to Italy, will perform missions over Africa & the Middle East - War Is Boring

Key point:NATO needs to ensure it can quickly rush forces to the poorly-defended Baltic states.

NATO has stood up a new command whose job it is to speed alliance troops and tanks around Europe in order to defend against a Russian invasion.

The new Joint Support and Enabling Command, based in Ulm, Germany, achieved initial operating capability on Sept, 17, 2019, NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu announced.

The command has its work cut out for it. A recent report revealed just how vulnerable NATOs eastern flank is to a sudden Russian assault -- and how important armored forces could be in the alliances defensive efforts.

Russia keeps around 760 tanks in units within quick striking distance of NATO's Baltic members. NATO countries together keep around 130 tanks in the same region -- and around 90 of those are American M-1s on their temporary rotation.

In 2016 RAND war-gamed a Russian invasion of the Baltics. In RAND's scenario, the Russian forces quickly overrun lightly-armed NATO forces. The Western alliance quickly deploys helicopters and air-mobile troops to confront the Russian advance. But NATO tanks are too slow to arrive.

"What cannot get there in time are the kinds of armored forces required to engage their Russian counterparts on equal terms, delay their advance, expose them to more-frequent and more-effective attacks from air- and land-based fires and subject them to spoiling counterattacks," RAND explained.

Across NATO theres no shortage of tanks and other heavy forces. But very few of NATOs tanks are available on short notice to defend the alliances eastern flank. RAND counted just 129 NATO tanks that realistically could participate in a short-notice Baltic scenario.

By RANDs count they could face as many as 757 Russian tanks that Moscow keeps on high readiness in the countrys western military district. Similarly, Russia deploys around 1,280 infantry fighting vehicles near its border with NATO, while NATO has just 280 fighting vehicles in the same region.

The heaviest most sophisticated American formations in particular are thin on the ground. For decades the U.S. Army maintained heavy forces in Europe in order to defend against the Soviet Union and later Russia. Force levels precipitously decreased following the end of the Cold War, but as late as 2012 the Army had four brigades in Europe, two of them with tanks.

The Obama administration cut the two Europe-based tank brigades in the wake of the 2011 debt-ceiling squabble with Congress that resulted in the Budget Control Act and automatic "sequestration" budget cuts. Army troops permanently in Europe declined from 40,000 to around 25,000.

Two years later in 2014, Russia invaded Ukraine. The Pentagon scrambled to restore its fighting strength in Europe. The Obama administration budgeted billions of dollars for temporary deployments to Europe under the auspices of the European Reassurance Initiative.

But a permanent increase in Europe-based forces was not in the offing. And five years after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. Armys 2nd Cavalry Regiment with its 300 Stryker wheeled medium vehicles is the heaviest American formation that's always in Europe.

The Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade also is based in Europe. To bolster the airborne brigade and the 2nd ACR, the Army temporarily deploys one armored brigade at a time to the continent, each on a nine-month rotation. A typical armored brigade has around 90 M-1 tanks and 130 M-2 fighting vehicles plus around 18 M-109 self-propelled howitzers.

NATOs new Joint Support and Enabling Command could help move around the U.S. vehicles as well as tanks belonging to the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Poland another other alliance states.

The new command in Ulm will help our forces become more mobile and enable rapid reinforcement within the alliance, ensuring we have the right forces in the right place at the right time, Lungescu said.

According to Stars and Stripes, the command could have 160 personnel by 2021. In a crisis its strength could swell to 600 people.

Setting up new commands to manage the flow of forces in a crisis is one of the ways the alliance has tried to adapt, Stars and Stripes noted. NATO and the European Union also have discussed the need to streamline diplomatic clearances for troop movements as well as ensure that infrastructure on the continent such as tunnels and bridges are strong enough to handle tanks and other heavy military vehicles.

David Axe serves as Defense Editor of the National Interest. He is theauthor of the graphic novelsWar Fix,War Is BoringandMachete Squad. This first appeared in September 2019.

Image: Reuters.

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Meet NATO's New Command Whose Job Is to Stop a Russian Attack - The National Interest Online

BRUSSELS The Membership Action Plan (MAP) is a program of NATO advice, assistance and practical support that is tailored to the individual needs of each country and does not prejudice any decision to join the Alliance, stated NATO in a press release.

A statement published on the NATO website stresses that current participants in this program are Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia, and specifies that MAP participating countries submit individual annual national programs containing political, economic, security and legal aspects, as well as defence and resources.

Bosnia sank into a political deadlock after the last legislative elections in autumn 2018, when the formation of a new state-level government was blocked over disagreement on the countrys bid to join NATO.

However, the impasse was resolved earlier this week, when it was announced that the members of Presidency decided to give the mandate to form the government to Zoran Tegeltija, committing at the same time to send ANP to Brussels after its tenure begins.

Zoran Tegeltija, who has been nominated by the BiH Presidency as a candidate for chairman of the BiH Council of Ministers, said that he would answer questions of the Committee on Election and Appointment of the Council of Minister on Tuesday, Nezavisne reported.

I will be ready to present my program to Parliament in the first week of December, Tegeltija said, adding that his priority would be economy.

He emphasized that it was aggravating for the Council of Ministers that the blockade lasted for a year and that it would be necessary to adopt a budget for 2020 and to approve what is agreed in the BiH Parliament, in order to unblock these processes.

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NATO confirms that MAP of BiH does not prejudge the aspiration to join the Alliance - European Western Balkans

NATO in spite of certain capability shortcomings and the necessity to rebalance the burden sharing continues to be strong both militarily and politically, noted speakers at a seminar NATO: 1949 1999 2019. The 20 Years of Poland in the 70 Years of the Alliance dedicated to the 70th Anniversary of the establishment of NATO and the 20th Anniversary of the membership of Poland in the Alliance on 20 November 2019 at the ICDS.

The eFP and EDI presence in the Baltic states and Poland for deterring Russia and preventing conflict is an important aspect of the credibility of NATO and signals the political solidarity and determination of the Allies.

The seminar was opened by H.E. Grzegorz Kozowski, Ambassador of Poland to Estonia, and Anna Kurowska, Programme Manager at the IES. The panel discussion was moderated by ICDS Reserach Fellow Kalev Stoicescu, and presentations were made by H.E. Boguslaw Winig, Adviser to the President of the Republic of Poland, and Dr. Johannes Rieckmann, Senior Research Fellow at BIGS (Brandenburg Institute for Society and Security).

The moderator and the speakers covered a broad range of issues related to the Alliances past, present and foreseeable future. They discussed relations between North-America and Europe (the Transatlantic Link and EUs efforts to develop defence capabilities of European Allies), the Brexit, relations with Turkey, threats to Europe from the east and south, NATOs planning process and budgets etc.

The seminar was hosted by ICDS and was organised in cooperation with the Institute for Eastern Studies (Poland).

Continued here:
The 20 Years of Poland in the 70 Years of NATO - RKK ICDS

Despite being a member of NATO, Mr Erdogan has agitated fellow member states with his foreign policy, but his feelings towards the group of nations were previously positive. Dr Simon Waldman told Express.co.uk: Before, Turkeys position was that it should harness its relations wherever it has them, so in the Middle East it should have strong ties, strong ties with Europe and strong ties with NATO.

That is what gives Turkey its strengths, having as little issues with its neighbours as possible as well as cultural engagement.

However, the attempted coup in 2016 aimed at ousting Mr Erdogan from power, has left the Turkish President with bitterness towards some Western countries as he believes they assisted the Gulen movement in its efforts to remove him from the Presidential Palace.

Expert in Turkish politics, Dr Waldman continued: But then there is the attempted coup in Turkey in 2016, from the perspective of Erdogan this is a personal attempt against him, and he thinks where are the Gulen movement, the architects of the coup, from? oh it has bases in the US.

What did NATO give Turkey, where was NATO in the post-Saddam Hussein gulf war when Turkey came under threat? Where did NATO help after the Iraq invasion when the fallout reached Turkey? Where was the help when there was a Kurdish insurgency?

And who were the officers directing the coup, many of them earned their stripes in NATO- so this distrust of NATO starts to kick in.

During the coup, NATOs F-16 fighter jets were used by Turkish anti-government pilots to bombard the Parliament in the capital of Ankara.

READ MORE:Erdogan risks fallout as Syria rant to spark Trump and Putin fury

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Why Erdogan will never trust NATO amid Putin missile deal - Express.co.uk

Gen. Jay Raymond, Commander, Space Command

WASHINGTON: Gen. Jay Raymond, head of Space Command, is urging NATO allies to move beyond traditional information sharing to providing capabilities together with the United States for joint space operations.

I really would like to get these partnership to be more than just data sharing partnerships and really move towards mission sharing, Raymond told the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) today. Were stronger together, he added.

While the term mission sharing isnt really a defined term, Raymond did say this: So, for example well, I talked about hosted payloads on satellites. We have other satellites that feed information into our situational awareness catalogue. We have partnerships in communications systems. So, I think theres great opportunity here to develop capabilities that will be mutually beneficial for all of our countries.

Currently, US space cooperation with NATO allies is largely centered around sharing space situational awareness (SSA) data, as well as coordination functions such as allowing mutual access to data from Europes Galileo and the US Global Positioning Systems positioning, navigation and timing satellites. On the US side, that cooperation now is led by SPACECOMs newCombined Force Space Component Command (CFSCC) under SPACECOM at Vandenberg AFB, headed by Air Force Maj. Gen. Stephen Whiting. CFSCC since August has oversight of the Combined Space Operations Center thatcoordinates US, ally and partner countries, civil agencies, and industry satellite activities to ensure safety.

As reported by colleague Rachel Cohen, Whiting told the Mitchell Institute on Nov. 15 that CFSCC is making adeliberate effort to widen our support to international, interagency, and commercial partners. He added that, If these critical partners do not have freedom of action in space, then we have not achieved space superiority.

Indeed, Raymond spent five days in mid-October in Europe explaining the new US approach to military space including the stand up of SPACECOM and President Donald Trumps desired creation of a Space Force and to engage allies. This included attending the Oct. 14 meeting of NATOs Military Committee; the first meeting of NATO military leaders since the alliance agreed its first-ever NATO Space Policy (not made public at this point) in June.

The alliance is set to declare space a domain of NATO operations at its summit meeting in December in London, Raymond noted.

However, as NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg explained in a speech in August, at the moment the policy isonly a framework document that remains to be fleshed out over time. This is in large part because the 29 NATO members continue to disagree about the role of space assets in military operations, Indeed, with the exception of France and the United Kingdom, many European countries either are deeply uncomfortable with, or downright opposed to, the development and use of weapons in space.

Germanys SAR-Lupe radar imaging satellite

For example, Germanys public and coalition government is strongly opposed to the idea of being involved in any offensive actions in space, one German political source told Breaking D. Thus, Berlin has been reluctant even to allow data from its military surveillance satellites, the SAR-Lupe synthetic aperture radar constellation, to be used by other European countries.

Because of that public distaste for warfare in space, Stoltenberg and other top NATO officials consistently stress that in NATOs view the new policy is, as Stoltenberg said in August, not about militarisation of space. Rather, he said, it was about protecting NATOs ability to communicate via satellites. Whats happening in space is extremely important for whats going on on earth, he said. Tracking forces, early warning of missile attacks, all kinds of communications, surveillance, all that, navigation, GPS, all of that is dependent on space capabilities.

This sentiment was echoed by US Air Force Lt. Gen. Scott Kindsvater, the deputy chief of staff for operations and intelligence at SHAPE, who served as deputy chairman of the NATO Military Committee at the October meeting.

NATO doesnt want to militarize space, he told the October meeting according to a NATO press release. This is about playing an important role as a forum to share information, increase interoperability, and ensure that our missions and operations can call on the support they need, even in space.

This runs directly counter to US policy and strategy, that has deemed space not just a domain of operations but a warfighting domain, that as Raymond explained today.Space Command, Raymond said bluntly today, has an offensive and defensive mission. As Breaking D readers know, Raymonds view is that a strong offensive capability is critical to maintaining deterrence in space. Raymond, who also serves as head of Air Force Space Command, further ha

Indeed, allied military leaders meeting with Raymond in October were unanimous in expressing their desires for the development of norms of behavior in space as a top priority, one Air Force official told Breaking D today. They want to take the lead on that, he added.

The German source agreed that European countries are united in their desire to work out international norms that would constrain irresponsible activities in space by all spacefaring powers, including Russia, China and the United States.

For example, European countries have pushed strongly for norms that would deem the creation of large amounts of dangerous space debris as verboten. That would include a norm that would forbid including via the use of kinetic energy anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons such as those tested up to now by China, India, Russian and the United States.

The Obama Administration was vocal in opposing debris-creating ASATs a position still supported by Gen. John Hyten, now vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Trump White House, by contrast, moved to silence NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine after he publicly objected to Indias March debris-creating anti-satellite weapons test.

A previous effort by the European Union to entice non-EU countries to join an International Code of Conduct on outer space launched in 2011 collapsed after four years. That said, the failure of the code largely was due to ham-handed negotiations by the EU bureaucracy that left emerging space powers, such as India, Brazil and South Africa, feeling pressured to sign a document that they had had little input to.

Asked directly during the CSIS meeting about what he saw as obstacles to cooperation with NATO allies in space, Raymond did not mention any of these foundational differences. Rather, he said, a critical problem is the lack of awareness in the general public about the importance of space.

I think theres an awareness issue. The average person in the world doesnt understand how their way of life is linked to space, he said. I dont think the average person understands the threat that exists today.

Link:
Raymond Urges NATO Space Ops; Europeans Fear Offensive Missions - Breaking Defense

NATO is marking 20 years of peacekeeping operations in Kosovo.

Three-and-a-half thousand troops, from 28 NATO allies and partner nations make up 'KFOR', or KosovoForce.

An ethnic conflict that tore apart the southeasternEuropean state forms the background to NATO's involvement.

Fighting broke out between Serbian and Kosovo Albanian forces in 1998, amidst the breakup of the former Yugoslavia.

A campaign of ethnic cleansing was pursued by President Slobodan Milosevic, prompting NATO's intervention in 1999.

The then-Serbian President spearheaded attacks against all non-Serbs, in particular, Kosovo Albanians.

In response, failed diplomatic avenues were followed by military options, including airstrikes.

Jonathan Parish, NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Operations, said: "The conflict had created this dire humanitarian crisis, it was threatening the stability of the region, and the security of the region, and NATO's intervention was therefore necessary."

A 78-day NATO bombing campaign ended the 1998-99 conflict, which saw more than 10,000 people killed.

NATO troops on the ground were also involved, andthey made their way into Kosovo on 12 June 1999.

Before first light, British paratroopers from5th Airborne Brigade and personnel from the Gurkha Rifles had started crossing over the border from Macedonia.

British Chinook and US Apache helicopters followed, while on the ground, soldiers from 4 Armoured Brigade lined up in convoy.

It was the start of one of the biggest military deployments since the Second World War.

At its peak, up to 50,000 NATO personnel were deployed to Kosovo,200 of whomdied for the mission.

Two decades on, NATO's presence remains.

A major objective of 'KFOR' is to train Kosovan forces in specialist areas such as bomb disposal, amidst the threat of thousands of unexploded devices and explosive remnants from the war.

1st Lieutenant Taylor Martin, Commander, KFOR EOD Team, said:

"If they get called in something, then we need to know what they're capable of, so that if the worst happens and then we get called in as a backup, then we know what we're goinginto."

DespiteKosovo being largely at peace, the tensions which caused the conflict still exist.

The relevance of KFOR's mission is fully clear in the present day, especially with the reluctance of Russia and Serbia to recognise Kosovo's independence.

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NATO Marks 20 Years Of Military Operations In Kosovo - Forces Network

The Russian war games started in mid October and have seen the Kremlin flaunt its military might in the Arctic right on NATOs doorstep. But as David Axe of National Interest highlights, Russian military are using the exercises to test how easily they can use submarines to breach NATO territory undetected. Eight submarines made an incursion into Norwegian territory in the Barents Sea accompanied by two other vessels, part of a planned 60 day exercise to test weapons and train the operators.

But more worryingly for NATO allies, Mr Axe highlights that while Russian military aims to practice defensive strategy, it is also audaciously sending subs into Western waters.

Norwegian intelligence services reported that The aim of the massive operation is to get as far out to the North Atlantic as possible without being discovered by NATO.

Mr Axe also highlights that while the exercises are defensive in nature, the same submarines being used could hypothetically launch attacks from the same locations.

The ease with which Russian military can enter NATO waters will provoke concern among many as the Kremlin consolidates its presence in the Arctic region.

The Arctic is a contested region due to its emerging, accessible natural resources which are becoming easier to extract due to melting ice. Russia, the US and China are competing for influence in the region, with Russias war games the latest in a long line of attempts to mark its authority.

Swathes of Russias Arctic seas were closed off for huge nuclear war games starting in October as five submarines, more than 100 aircraft, 200 missile launchers and 12,000 Russian troops prepared to take part in the exercise, Moscows Defence Ministry stated.

READ MORE:Russia flexes muscles with live ballistic and cruise missile launches

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Russia warning: How NATO territory is being targeted by Putins submarine war games - Express.co.uk