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28 Aug 23. ‘As a soldier, he’s beyond compare’: The ex-SAS war hero intent on change for the British Army.
After years of exemplary service on the front line, what is driving the next Chief of the General Staff, Sir Roland ’Roly’ Walker?
Lt Gen Sir Roland Walker, who has been selected to be the next Chief of the General Staff – the head of the British Army – has experienced more combat than probably any other officer elevated to the role in the last 40 years.
After cutting his teeth as a young Irish Guards officer in the IRA heartland of East Tyrone in 1994, Lt Gen Walker – universally known as Roly – joined the SAS and later led dozens of raids on terrorist targets while commanding the regiment’s G Squadron in Iraq from 2003.
He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 2010 for “indomitable leadership” in Afghanistan during a bloody six-month tour. Lt Gen Walker miraculously escaped injury when a Taliban IED ripped the front wheels off his 15-ton Ridgeback armoured vehicle, tossing it six feet into the air.
But perhaps the most profound lesson that Lt Gen Walker, 53, has learned in his 32-year military career took place during a gale on a desolate Otterburn training area at 2am after a training exercise in 2009.
Lt Gen Walker had just taken command of the Grenadier Guards, founded in 1656 and fiercely proud of its heritage. RSM Daz Chant, the senior enlisted man in the Grenadiers, stood smartly to attention, saluted and asked Lt Gen Walker for “leave to carry on”.
No one else was in sight. Lt Gen Walker, who had become used to the more relaxed traditions of Special Forces, said: “Sarn’t Major, if it’s just us, please don’t feel you need to go through these formalities.” RSM Chant, a huge man who towered over Lt Gen Walker, responded: “Sir, if I don’t do it, how can I expect anyone else to do it?”
The takeaway was not just that this was the Grenadier way or even about the value of doing the right thing when no one else was watching: it was the imperative to lead by example. (Source: Daily Telegraph)
31 Aug 23. Why Grant Shapps got the job as Defence Secretary. Grant Shapps is the new Defence Secretary, after Ben Wallace officially resigned this morning. The seasoned cabinet minister moves from energy secretary to the coveted role. As I reported in this week’s politics column for the magazine, the desired criteria in No. 10 for the candidate included ‘efficient, non-flashy, loyal, decent’. Does Shapps fit all four? Well, he’s certainly loyal having backed Rishi Sunak not once but twice for leader. He’s also viewed as a capable minister both in terms of running a department and performing on the media. Shapps – who famously took the media round over Barnard Castle when Boris Johnson was prime minister – is seen as one of the safest pairs of hands.
As for Shapps’s defence credentials, he conveniently visited Kyiv in the past week. He also very briefly served as the chair of the Ukraine All-Party Parliamentary Group, moving to the Home Office under Liz Truss before her premiership imploded (he is the shortest-serving home secretary in history). He has been a member of the National Security Council from previous roles.
No. 10 wanted Wallace’s successor to be someone they could trust
In his energy brief, Shapps has worked to help Ukraine bolster its fuel security for the winter months and beyond which he argued would help to isolate Putin. Shapps still has big shoes to fill. Wallace was routinely top of ConservativeHome’s cabinet league table and respected by many opposition MPs. His extensive military knowledge was credited for the UK being well-placed to help Ukraine early on. When it comes to voter issues, a recent Ipsos political monitor found that responding to the Russian invasion of Ukraine was the only policy area where voters thought that Labour would do worse than the Tories.
Ultimately the reason Shapps has the brief is that No. 10 wanted Wallace’s successor to be someone they could trust when it comes to tricky spending decisions – both in terms of the current situation and the message at the next election.
During the Tory leadership race, Sunak refused to pledge as much as Truss on defence, with the former prime minister promising to spend 3 per cent of GDP on defence by 2030. When Sunak succeeded Truss, he watered this down – but has vowed to boost funding to 2.5 per cent of GDP in the long term. The worry among Sunak allies was that the wrong candidate could start to lobby for spending commitments the Treasury would struggle to match. Shapps is likely to play ball. Most immediately, Shapps will have to deal with the UK’s depleted military supplies – much of it has been sent to Ukraine.
Shapps’s promotion leaves a vacancy in the energy brief so there will still be a few more moves today. However, the wider reshuffle will take place after the party conference in October. For why that is, see this week’s Spectator politics column. (Source: Spectator)
31 Aug 23. Grant Shapps replaces Ben Wallace as UK Defence Secretary.
Having announced his intention to retire from politics, Ben Wallace will be replaced by Grant Shapps as the new UK Defence Secretary.
The UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has appointed Grant Shapps, formerly the UK’s Energy minister, as the new Defence Secretary, following previous incumbent Ben Wallace’s intention to retire from politics.
For what was once an office on the fringe of political significance at a time of relative peace, the role of Defence Secretary has come into prominence as tensions mount on the world stage – with war in Europe and the growing military posture of China and other autocratic states.
This appointment is Shapp’s fifth cabinet position, after serving in Energy, the Home Department, Transport, as well as the Department for International Development.
On X, a social media platform formerly known as Twitter, Shapps expressed his gratitude saying he is “honoured to be appointed.”
Shapps also paid “tribute to the enormous contribution Ben Wallace [his predecessor] has made to UK defence and global security over the last four years,” and that he intends to continue “the UK’s support for Ukraine in their fight against [Russian president Vladimir] Putin’s barbaric invasion.”
In his resignation letter to Sunak yesterday, Wallace noted he had left the UK Ministry of Defence in a better state than when he entered four years ago.
“As I finish my tenure, I can reflect that the Ministry of Defence that I leave is now more modern, better funded and more confident than the organisation I took over in 2019.”
Wallace’s legacy
The former Defence Secretary oversaw the evacuation of British troops from Afghanistan in the summer of 2021 to spearheading western support to Ukraine’s Armed Forces in repelling invading Russian forces from the country.
Wallace expressed his intention to retire from politics since he failed to ascend to the post of Nato General Secretary. Instead, the incumbent Jens Stoltenberg, the former Prime Minister of Norway, will continue in his international role for another year.
Wallace also noted other milestones in his four-year long service: “I am proud that I have secured GCAP, AUKUS, NCF, National shipbuilding and the Defence and Security industrial strategies that will secure thousands of British jobs for our young people many years into the future.”
In a world more divided across an increasingly multi-polar environment, Wallace remained attentive to the fact that “over the next decade the world will get more insecure and more unstable. [He and Sunak] both share the belief that now is the time to invest.”
“We must not return to the days where defence was viewed as a discretionary spend by government and savings were achieved by hollowing out,” he added. (Source: army-technology.com)
Comment: Howard Wheeldon, FRAeS, Wheeldon Strategic Advisory Ltd. I deliberately chose not to include Grant Shapps as being a remote possibility of becoming the next and probably last Secretary of State or Defence because to anyone of sound mind the idea of putting someone in with zero knowledge or understanding of defence in such difficult and dangerous period in geo-politics that we have witnessed in two generations was preposterous. Not for the first time, a UK Prime Minister has seemingly appointed a Cabinet Minister who will clearly do as he is told and not answer back. Perhaps it was a case and route of Defence or Back Benches as some of you will recall that Gordon Brown chose when he appointed John Hutton to the same post in 2008 – one that lasted under a year and very must resembles the situation of the Shapps appointment in that it is unlikely to last more than a year. There is no other way of saying this, Shapps a bad choice in my view and a potential disaster for UK defence and may well go down as, of all the decisions the current PM, Rishi Sunak has so far made, the worst by a very long mark I live in hope that our US allies in the Pentagon will give Sunak a very hard time along with those in Nato as well! Are we mad? We didn’t need a replacement for the now Lord Hammond of Runnymede, better known perhaps as ‘Forensic’ Phil’. What we needed is someone with wide knowledge and understanding of the many weaknesses in UK defence capability and someone with the acumen match. Shapps may be a pilot in his own right but that’s where is starts and ends. He will now need to be trained by hundreds of MOD civil servants and members of our thee main Armed Forces and I have to say that I do not envy them their job. Press and media may well tear this appointment to shreds!
30 Aug 23. US fighter jets capable of nuclear bombing to be based in UK. New United States fighter jets capable of carrying nuclear weapons will be based in the UK as soon as this year.
Two squadrons of F-35 As have been deployed and will arrive at the US-rented RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk imminently, The Telegraph understands.
The stealth jets are designed to carry out tactical nuclear bombing and are capable of conducting air-to-air missions and intelligence gathering.
It comes after official documents suggested US nuclear weapons could return to British soil.
The documents revealed that the US Congress received an air force budgetary request for $50 m (£39.6 m) to build a “surety dormitory” at the American airbase. The term “surety” is used in US military parlance to refer to nuclear weapons.
Analysts believe the dormitory would accommodate an increased number of military personnel if nuclear weapons are deployed to bolster the 6,000 members of personnel who currently work at the base.
A defence source told The Telegraph: “F-35s will be based there. They have deployed and will be moving in at the end of this year, if not sometime in 2024.”
Military sources described the move to bring in 54 F-35s, which will replace the F-15s currently at the airbase, as “significant”. F-15s are able to carry nuclear weapons, but are less advanced.
The source said: “It’s a newer, more capable aircraft, which has a longer range and stealth, which is crucial if you are going to use them to accurately drop nuclear bombs.”
A total of 110 US nuclear bombs were stored at RAF Lakenheath until 2008, when they were removed after the threat of nuclear war subsided.
Both the Ministry of Defence and No 10 declined to comment on whether American nuclear warheads had or would be deployed to the UK.
However, the defence source added: “Why we have a special relationship with the US is because we talk to them, they talk to us and we don’t divulge secrets.”
The potential return of US nuclear weapons to British soil has been described by experts as evidence that the West has entered a new cold war.
Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former commander of Britain and Nato’s Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Regiment, said: “This is absolutely a cold war and it is strategic brinkmanship. This is a game of poker. If the US is putting nukes in the UK, it’s a message to Russia that they are serious.
“The deterrent is only a deterrent if the enemy thinks you will use it. That’s worked for the last 75 years, but we are now in a position where a tyrant in an unstable country is threatening to use nuclear weapons and the only way to stop them is to make them see they will get it back in spades.”
Prof Malcolm Chalmers, of the Royal United Services Institute think tank, said building on the airbase means the US “could move them a lot more quickly in a time of rising tensions”, adding: “They want the option of bringing them over.”
Matt Hancock, whose West Suffolk constituency covers RAF Lakenheath, said he welcomed the “potential expansion”.
“I know only too well how special RAF Lakenheath is and recognise the importance of reinforcing our commitment to shared security and democratic values,” he said.
“The people of West Suffolk have long been proud to welcome American service personnel who live in our community. We must continue to support and stand shoulder to shoulder with our American friends and allies, especially in the face of Putin’s menacing aggression.”
‘Strategic alliance’
Tobias Ellwood, the chairman of the defence select committee, said: “If the Americans believe they need to store nuclear weapons this side of the Atlantic, it is a massive indicator of how dangerous and complex our world is becoming.”
Mr Ellwood added that the UK is “part of a strategic alliance” in which “the US is our closest partner”, adding: “If they believe it is in wider security interests to place these weapons in the UK, then we should be supportive of that.”
Hans Kristensen, the director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists think tank, said analysis of official US government budgetary documents showed upgrades to RAF Lakenheath that could enable nuclear weapons to be moved to the site if required.
Currently, there are around 150 American-controlled B-61 nuclear gravity bombs stationed in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Turkey.
“We are now seeing signs that they may establish nuclear weapons at Lakenheath,” Mr Kristensen told The Telegraph.
He explained the new funding secured for the base would be to “both upgrade the storage facilities for nuclear weapons and add living quarters for personnel to do the mission”.
However, Mr Kristensen warned that Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, would have to agree to any nuclear weapons being stored on British soil, as well as Nato because of its nuclear posture in Europe.
He added that any such deployment of nuclear weapons would have to be authorised by the US president.
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) has vowed to stop American nuclear weapons from returning to UK soil. CND warned that if such weapons do return to Britain, it would “make the UK once again a forward nuclear base for the US”. (Source: Daily Telegraph)
29 Aug 23. A Record Budget of the Polish Ministry of Defence, and Billions More for Abrams Tanks. Poland’s defence expenditure will exceed PLN 113bn (USD 27bn / EUR 25bn), equivalent to 3% of next year’s planned GDP, according to the Ministry of Finance’s 2024 draft budget. Compared to this year (PLN 97.4bn), this is an increase of 16.3%.
In addition, another PLN 4.8bn would be allocated to the procurement of the Abrams main battle tanks.
Almost half of the money, or PLN 49.3bn, would be allocated to capital expenses, including procurement of the new equipment and armament, and construction investments, equivalent to 43.5% of the entire defense budget.
It is the second year in a row when a 20% share of capital expenditure is exceeded in defence spending, as required by the Act on Homeland Defence (41.2% for 2023). According to the Act on Homeland Defence, the following elements are a part of the defence expenditure plan:
— PLN 112.7bn in the “National defence” part of the budget;
— PLN 615.4m in Section 752, National defence in other sections of the state budget Ad.
That money will be allocated to research and specific purpose projects in defence, the Non-military Defence Preparation Programme, activities of the common prosecutor’s office for military cases, ESA contributions, and tasks tied to military qualification processes.
The funds in the “National Defence” section of the budget would break down as follows:
— PLN 49.1bn for capital expenditure (+22.5% over 2023);
— PLN 27.7bn for military and civilian personnel expenditures: payroll, cash bonuses and related expenses (+20.3% over 2023)
— PLN 19.8bn for overhaul, healthcare, telecommunications, and other services (+1.6% over 2023)
— PLN 11.1bn for retirement pay and benefits (+17% over 2023)
— PLN 2bn for ongoing expenditure (+19.5% over 2023)
— PLN 4.5bn are earmarked to cover personal liability (+19.6% over 2023)
— PLN 4.4bn are earmarked for tasks tied to national defence (+9.7% over 2023)
Furthermore, over and beyond this budgetary total of PLN 113.3bn, a special-purpose reserve of PLN 4.8bn was earmarked to implement Council of Ministers’ resolution for a multi-year “Equipping the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland with main battle tanks” program. These assets would become a part of the Armed Forces Support Fund.
Specifically, this expenditure is needed to pay for the process through which the 18th Mechanized Division will receive its M1 Abrams main battle tanks.
In fact, total Polish defence expenditure may be as high as PLN 158 bn, or PLN 40bn more than the planned budget, as was mentioned by PM Mateusz Morawiecki when the budgetary bill was presented.
It is expected that the additional PLN 40bn will be financed through the Armed Forces Support Fund, and used to procure armament and equipment in collaboration with South Korea. These include K2/K2PL main battle tanks, K9A1/K9PL self-propelled howitzers, K239 Chunmoo/Homar-K multiple rocket launchers and FA-50PL/FA-50 light combat aircraft.
Consequently, in 2024 as in 2023, Poland’s total defence expenditure would be close to 4% of GDP (4.2% and 3.9% respectively).
This is very significant increase over 2022, when defense expenditure was substantially lower, at 2.4%-2.7% of GDP, depending on methodology. At the time, Poland the first contracts were awarded for procurement of the first lots of Abrams and K2 tanks, K9 self-propelled howitzers, Chunmoos rocket launchers, “Little Narew” air-defense system, Gladius UAVs, AW149M helicopters, and so on.
It was not until 2023 that the high-value contracts were signed and financed, both with foreign suppliers (for AH-64E Apache, M142 HIMARS/Homar-A, second phase of the Wisła programme), as well as the Polish industry (Borsuk IFV, Rosomak APC with ZSSW-30 turret, maybe a heavy IFV), and the projects done as a collaborative effort (K2PL, Narew system).
After financing started for those agreements, spending significantly exceed 2022 levels. One may even define this as a “wartime” budget close to 3% of GDP (or even 4%, if the Armed Forces Support Fund is taken into the equation). This accumulation has been caused by the full-scale war in Ukraine on one hand, and the growing levels of threat, and by many decades of backlog that need to be covered now.
A separate issue is the future maintenance of the newly commissioned platforms throughout their lifecycles – at this scale, the proportion between procurement and maintenance of the introduced platforms may change significantly, over the upcoming 5-10 years.
Agreements on such a scale need to create a contribution to the development of domestic potential; the LCC kept domestically, within the Polish industry, would be lower, while local maintenance is simply more practical. Whether that happens shall be covered by a separate analysis.
(Source: https://www.defense-aerospace.com/ Defense24.com)
30 Aug 23. Dassault Ranks FCAS Future Fighter As Third Priority, After Rafale F5 and UCAVs. Rafale F5 is currently Dassault Aviation’s top priority, well before the SCAF future combat air system and combat drones, the company’s CEO said Aug. 29.
Speaking at the annual summer meeting of the MEDEF French industry confederation, Eric Trappier noted the many Rafale contracts signed by Dassault in recent months. During the summer, India announced its intention to buy 26 Rafale M for its naval aviation, and then 18 more were ordered by Indonesia, bringing total export sales to date to 311 aircraft. This is double the export sales of Eurofighter (151 aircraft), the Saab Gripen (102 aircraft including those on long-term lease) and the Boeing Super Hornet (48 aircraft).
“Our order book is full until 2032 and we have not yet finished booking new orders,” Trappier told BFM Business TV. Trappier is also president of the Union des Industries et Métiers de Métallurgie (UIMM), the French steelworking industry lobby.
“The Rafale “moment” will continue for some time yet. Our offer meets the needs of the military, and geopolitics favor France for the countries that want to buy neither American nor Russian aircraft,” Trappier continued.
The lower priority given by Dassault to SCAF confirms the impression given by the company at the Paris air show in June. (Paris Air Show: SCAF Snuffed Out?)
First Rafale, then drones, and SCAF comes after
Despite its lower priority, the future generation of combat aircraft remains firmly in Dassault’s sights. The French manufacturer leads one of the pillars on the Système de Combat Aérien Futur (SCAF), the French designation now used to distinguish the French-German-Spanish future fighter program from its British-Italian Future Combat Air System.
Dassault has begun to work on a demonstrator aircraft at its headquarters in the Paris suburb of Saint-Cloud, with German and Spanish teams. Dassault leads the program’s New Generation Fighter component.
But for Eric Trappier, the priority remains the future F5 standard of its Rafale fighter.
“It will arrive after 2030, then there are drones. So, the future combat aircraft will come after that. We are in it for the short term, the medium term and the very long term”, explains Eric Trappier.
“The die is not yet cast”
Asked by BFM Business whether he had any doubts about the final outcome of the SCAF program, which calls for delivery of a demonstrator aircraft in 2028 and initial deliveries to replace French, German and Spanish fighters in 2040, Trappier said “The future will tell. The [die is not yet cast.] We want to have real leadership on the [NGT] combat aircraft, but this must be recognized. If it is not recognized by the other partners, it won’t work,” warns Eric Trappier.
Concerning the entrance of new partners, in particular Belgium which wants a seat in the program, Dassault’s chief remains firm: “The summer did not change the parameters, which are based on long-term” considerations, taken to mean that Dassault will accept Brussels as an observer, but not more.
Reacting to Dassault’s final comment on Belgium’s participation in SCAF, General Thierry Esser, deputy chief of staff to Belgian Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder, posted on Twitter/X that “This is how Dassault is increasingly isolating itself even as additional partners join SCAF. Belgium’s choice to be confirmed in a few months,” without saying which “other partners” are joining the program, nor why Belgium deserves to join.” (Source: https://www.defense-aerospace.com/)
30 Aug 23. Serbia: Government will continue balancing act on EU membership bid, affirming status quo. On 29 August, Prime Minister Ana Brnabic stated that Serbia’s membership in the EU is unlikely before 2030 due to the bloc changing its membership criteria. The statement followed a call by European Council (EC) President Charles Michel that the EU was ready for enlargement in 2030. Serbia has opened 22 of the necessary 35 chapters for accession thus far, though it has made little progress since 2021. The 2022 EU country report cites concerns over reforms, Serbia’s stance on Russia, minority rights and corruption. Despite less than 50% of its population supporting EU accession, Serbia benefits greatly from its EU candidacy status, particularly from the associated free trade agreement (approximately 80% of its trade is done with the bloc). The Serbian government has therefore been trying to balance maintaining EU candidacy benefits without having to undertake moves unpopular with both its population and anti-EU allies like Russia. Serbia will almost certainly continue this balancing policy for the foreseeable future. (Source: Sibylline)
29 Aug 23. Increasing Evidence that the US Air Force’s Nuclear Mission May Be Returning to UK Soil (excerpt). There are an estimated 100 B61 nuclear bombs deployed at six bases in five European countries, with preparations underway at RAF Lakenheath to potentially receive nuclear weapons as well. (FAS graphic)
New U.S. Air Force budgetary documents strongly imply that the United States Air Force is in the process of re-establishing its nuclear weapons mission on UK soil.
The Air Force’s FY 2024 budgetary justification package, dated March 2023, notes the planned construction of a “surety dormitory” at RAF Lakenheath, approximately 100 kilometers northeast of London. The “surety dormitory” was also briefly mentioned in the Department of Defense’s testimony to Congress in March 2023, but with no accompanying explanation. “Surety” is a term commonly used within the Department of Defense and Department of Energy to refer to the capability to keep nuclear weapons safe, secure, and under positive control.
The justification documents note the new requirement to “Construct a 144-bed dormitory to house the increase in enlisted personnel as the result of the potential Surety Mission” [emphasis added]. To justify the new construction, the documents notes, “With the influx of airmen due to the arrival of the potential Surety mission and the bed-down of the two F-35 squadrons there is a significant deficiency in the amount of unaccompanied housing available for E4s and below at Royal Air Force Lakenheath” [emphasis added].
Construction of the facility is scheduled to begin in June 2024 and end in February 2026.
“We previously documented the UK’s addition to the Department of Defense’s FY2023 budgetary documentary for the NATO Security Investment Program, in which it was written that NATO is wrapping up a thirteen-year, $384m infrastructure investment program at storage sites in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, and Turkey to upgrade security measures, communication systems, and facilities” [emphasis added]. An explicit mention of the UK had not been included in the previous year’s budgetary documents, and it was removed in this year’s documents after we reported on its inclusion the previous year. (end of excerpt) (Click here for the full story, on the FAS website: https://fas.org/publication/increasing-evidence-that-the-us-air-forces-nuclear-mission-may-be-returning-to-uk-soil/) (Source: https://www.defense-aerospace.com/ Federation of American Scientists)
29 Aug 23. Bulgaria: New corruption charges linked to coalition parties will increase government instability. On 28 August, the Ministry of Justice announced that sanctioned mogul Vassil Bozhkov faced new charges over his involvement with the late Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, following his arrest on 25 August. Bozhkov has previously been charged with commissioning contract killings and large-scale tax evasion. He is suspected of having ties with the current coalition and pro-EU party Citizens for European Development in Bulgaria (GERB), including former prime minister and current leading GERB figure Boyko Borissov. Bulgaria retains some of the weakest rule of law and corruption standards in the EU. After six elections in two years, the current coalition government is already unsteady, with the new charges and allegations of connections to Bozhkov likely to damage GERB. It is likely that Bozhkov will be convicted and there is a realistic possibility that Borissov will face charges too. The latter eventually would significantly increase government instability and the risk of coalition collapse. (Source: Sibylline)
28 Aug 23. Newest NATO member Finland to spend 2.3% of GDP on defence, NATO’s newest member Finland plans to spend 2.3% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defence next year, its defence ministry said on Monday.
In July, NATO’s 31 member-nations agreed to spend a minimum of 2% of their GDP on defence. Previously the 2% target had been a goal to aim for over time and only seven allies met the target in 2022, according to NATO.
Finland joined the alliance in April, in a historic security policy U-turn in response to neighbouring Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
It said it planned to spend 6bn euros ($6.48bn), or 2.3% of its GDP, on defence in 2024, which is some 116m euros less than the estimate for 2023.
Finland’s defence spending has increased significantly in recent years, even before it became a NATO member, because it is replacing its ageing fleet of F/A-18 combat jets with F-35 fighter jets.
Finland is also spending on military aid to Ukraine, with the total value of its military equipment donations reaching 1.3bn euros last week.
“From the point of view of the future security order of Europe and Finland, it is a core issue that Russia’s aggressive efforts can be dammed in Ukraine,” defence minister Antti Hakkanen said in a statement to announce the latest donation. ($1 = 0.9255 euros) (Source: Google/Reuters)
28 Aug 23. NATO and Allies Conduct Long-Range Drills Testing Interoperability Over Romania. On August 24, NATO Allies conducted verification testing above Romania on how their air assets work together to protect NATO airspace with Integrated Air and Missile Defence (IAMD) assets. This mission was extremely beneficial for all participating air forces to execute and achieve integration and interoperability.
The verification test saw fighter and air-to-air refueling aircraft from France, Spain and Türkiye come together over Romania, improving the readiness and interoperability of NATO IAMD alongside additional assets such as surface-based air and missile defence (SBAMD) systems. During the mission, NATO Allied Air Command via the Combined Air Operations Centre at Torrejón oversaw the procedural test analysing how these assets can be brought to work together efficiently.
“NATO IAMD provides a highly responsive, time-critical and persistent capability to achieve a desired level of control of the air, this ensures the Alliance is able to achieve freedom of action to conduct the full range of its missions, safeguarding and protecting Alliance territory,” said Brigadier General Christoph Pliet, Deputy Chief of Staff Operations at Allied Air Command. “This mission was extremely beneficial for all participating air forces to execute and achieve integration and interoperability,” he added.
Once activated, SBAMD units provide their data into the NATO IAMD network which comprises national and NATO-provided sensors, command and control assets, and weapons systems. This joint and combined defensive network compiles the data received into one recognised air and missile picture.
“The participating fighter jets operated out of their home or deployed bases and flew in to Romania with the help of critical air-to-air refueling aircraft and integrated with in-place SBAMD units. This complex mission demonstrated that NATO and its Allies are capable of conducting long-range flexible deterrence options in addition to maintaining an overall posture ready to deter and defend every inch of NATO territory,” General Pliet added.
NATO IAMD is a defensive component of the Alliance’s Joint Air Power, which aims to ensure the stability and security of NATO airspace by coordinating, controlling and exploiting the air domain. It is an essential, continuous mission in peacetime, crisis and conflict, conducted using a 360-degree approach across NATO territory, and is prepared to address the full spectrum of threats. (Source: https://www.defense-aerospace.com/ NATO Allied Air Command)
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