In Defense of NATO: The Alliance's Enduring Value by Keith A Dunn

Author:Keith A Dunn [Dunn, Keith A]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Security (National & International), Political Science, General
ISBN: 9780367003418
Google: O96iDwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 49569127
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2019-06-17T00:00:00+00:00

SOURCE: DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, REPORT ON ALLIED CONTRIBUTION TO THE COMMON DEFENSE, A REPORT TO THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS (APRIL 1988), p. 19.

U.S. defense budgets will keep pace with inflation. It is not improbable, however, that we will see a severe downturn in U.S. defense budgets, as was witnessed in the 1970s.

One can argue that Europeans may or may not have allocated the outputs from their slow but steady growth commitment in the most optimum fashion.5 However, the steady persistence that the European community has demonstrated over the long run, particularly given the erratic nature of American defense budgets and the domestic economic problems that many Europeans had to face due to high U.S. inflation and interest rates in the 1970s; is very impressive.

Quantifiable Factors. As a result of this slow, but steady growth in European defense budgets, NATO major weapons inventories have been modernized and in some cases increased substantially. For example, between 1975 and 1987 European main battle tank holdings increased by approximately 35 percent, and infantry fighting vehicle holdings by 53 percent, with a major portion of those additions coming from British, Dutch and Belgian inventories. Also, the European allies bought about 1,000 front-line land-based aircraft and have ordered nearly another 900 planes to be delivered during the late 1980s or early 1990s.6 In addition, European members of the Alliance deployed new anti-tank guided missile systems, expanded their attack helicopter inventories significantly, modernized their air defense systems, and bought a NATO AWACs system. Equally significant changes in European thought on doctrine and new operational concepts have developed over the last decade.

In terms of “outputs,” then, the European record may not be perfect, but it is hardly fair to argue that they are seeking a “free ride” for their defense. If war should occur in Europe, NATO must be able to survive the first days and weeks of combat. The outcome of the early battles will in large measure be determined by the forces that are immediately available and in the theater. What is the European contribution to its own defense when one looks at the issue this way?

Based on International Institute for Strategic Studies figures, Europe’s peacetime contribution to deterrence is not insignificant. For example, Europeans deploy 85 percent of the NATO divisions manned in peacetime-in the critical AFNORTH and AFCENT regions they field nearly 80 percent of the divisions.* Upon mobilization, European nations will provide 80 percent of NATO’s divisions and 65 percent of the divisions in AFNORTH and AFCENT. In peacetime, European-NATO nations contribute approximately 75 percent of the tanks; 90 percent of the artillery, multiple rocket launchers, and mortars; nearly 80 percent of the land combat aircraft; 70 percent of the armed helicopters; and 85 percent of the naval vessels in European waters for NATO’s defense.

Since the majority of U.S. forces in peacetime are deployed in the Central Region, the European ratios of peacetime “outputs” for their own defense in AFNORTH and AFCENT are slightly less than for NATO as a whole, but they are still impressive.

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