Daily Archives: May 4, 2017

Top national defence procurement officials discussed innovation and new initiatives to support NATO capability efforts at the Conference of National Armaments Directors (CNAD) held at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium on 4 May 2017.

Multinational efforts are not only an efficient use of resources, they also strengthen the bond amongst Allies, said NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller during the opening of the spring conference. Highlighting the value of the CNADs contributions to NATO through national, multinational and common-funded projects, she commended the Conference for contributing to the strength of the Alliance by striving to deliver the required capabilities.

National Armaments Directors identified a number of avenues to explore to lower the barriers for multinational cooperation to occur, and they responded positively to the International Staffs efforts for advancing and expanding existing projects and adding new initiatives to the inventory of opportunities.

Allies also approved a framework for CNAD efforts to facilitate innovation and provided guidance on the development of a specific work programme by which to implement the recommendations outlined in the framework. This work is meant to assist Allies in keeping the military advantage, including the technological edge.

CNAD Permanent Chairman and NATOs Assistant Secretary General for Defence Investment, Camille Grand, underlined the need for adequate resources to deliver capabilities, stating that the 2014 Defence Investment Pledge was a positive signal for us, and importantly, we are now seeing that Allies are implementing the pledge. He added that National Armaments Directors would now need to decide how to make best use of the additional resources.

Defence procurement officials were updated on the status of the major programmes under CNAD governance (Ballistic Missile Defence; Alliance Future Surveillance and Control; Joint Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance; and Alliance Ground Surveillance), as well as on successful multinational efforts currently underway in areas such as Anti-Submarine Warfare, Suppression of Enemy Air Defence and Helicopter Operations in Degraded Visual Environments.

The next CNAD meeting will be held in autumn 2017.

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National Armaments Directors discuss defence spending, innovation and multinational cooperation - NATO HQ (press release)

General Curtis M. Scaparrotti, head of United States European Command, said that, In the east, a resurgent Russia had turned from partner to antagonist and that NATO will be returning to its historic role as a war fighting command.

(WASHINGTON, DC) The commander of NATO and US forces in Europe has called for yet more armored vehicles and troops to be deployed on the continent to counter what he calls a resurgent Russia.

Testifying before a Senate appropriations subcommittee on Tuesday, General Curtis M. Scaparrotti, head of United States European Command (EUCOM) in charge of all US forces in Europe, as well as NATOs Supreme Allied Commander accused Russia of threatening regional and global security.

Today we face the most dynamic European strategic environment in recent history,he said in his testimony.In the east, a resurgent Russia had turned from partner to antagonist as it seeks to undermine the Western-led international order and reassert itself as a global power.

Accordingly, we are adjusting our plans, our posture, our readiness to remain relevant to combat the threats we face,he added.In short, we are returning to our historic role as a war fighting command.

Two American combat brigades are permanently stationed in Europe: the 2nd Cavalry Regiment in Germany and the 173rd Airborne in Italy, which make up around 10,000 of the 60,000-strong American troop presence in Europe. Scaparrotti says more troops are needed specifically more armored and infantry divisions to counter Russias western flank, as wellenablerslike engineers, aviation and fire support staff for the European Reassurance Initiative.

Russias posture is not a light force, its a heavy force,he continued.

In order to have the posture that is both credible and of the right composition, we need more armored forces to make sure that we do have a force of enough size that enables us to deter Russia.

Five or six years ago, we werent concerned about being ready [to fight] today,Scaparrotti added.That has changed.

During the Senate hearing, Scaparrotti also called for more funding to improve local capabilities for infrastructure capable of moving and housing troops.

The European Reassurance Initiative was launched in 2014 in the wake of the political crisis in Ukraine and the perceived Russian intervention there, leading to the most vocal members of NATO Poland and the Baltic states claiming that they would be Moscows next target. This prompted leading members of the alliance to agree on troop deployments. In March, 800 British soldiers began arriving in Estonia, while Germany sent troops and tanks to Lithuania. Earlier in April, 1,350 NATO soldiers arrived in northeastern Poland in line with the planned buildup.

Russia has consistently criticized the NATO buildup on its doorstep, describing it as a threat to regional security.

We deplore that deployment, for it raises tensions in Europe along the border between NATO and Russia. Russia doesnt pose any threat to Estonia nor any other NATO member state,Russian Ambassador to the UK Alexander Yakovenko recently told the Daily Mail.

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NATO Returning to 'Historic Role as War Fighting Command' - TRUNEWS

A Natogeneral has warned climate change poses a global security threat as US President Donald Trump prepares to make a decision on whether to pull out of the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The comments were the strongest yet from the alliance about the importance of upholding the deal, which was signed by 195 countries in the French capital last year.

They comeamid lingering tensions between Mr Trump and the leaders of Nato, an organisation the President once called obsolete".

There is a huge necessity that the UN continues to involve all nations and co-ordinate the action of all nations to fight climate change,said General Denis Mercier, Nato's supreme allied commander for transformation.

If one nation, especially the biggest nation... if they do not recognise a problem, then we will have trouble dealing with the causes of climate change.

Though he did not single out any country by name, the United States is the world's largest economy and the second biggest emitter of greenhouse gases after China.

The Paris deal pledged to limit global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and to provide funds to poorer countries dealing with the effects of climate change.

Mr Trump has repeatedly complained the US was treated unfairly in the agreement, which requires it to pay more tax than other countries to fight global warming.

His predecessor, former President Barack Obama, pledged the US would drastically cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 26-28 per cent from 2005 levels by 2026.

Nato has a duty to try and predict the impact of greenhouse gases on geopolitical stability, Mr Mercier, who is French, explained.

He said risks include rising sea levels, water shortages and the opening of access to resources in the Arctic - all of which he said are likely to bring about new conflicts that could involve the 28 Nato countries.

But he said a global effort to stem climate change could help the world avert some of these potential crises.

Its not too late, but it is time, he added.

A tweet from Donald Trump in 2012 that claimed climate change was made up(Twitter)

US greenhouse gas emissions have fallen recently due to a switch from coal to natural gas and renewables in generating electricity. But many climate experts fear that if Washington leaves the Paris accord, or reduces its commitments, other countries could follow suit and global emissions could surge.

Many companies, including ExxonMobil Corp, Microsoft Corp, and Arch Coal Inc, have urged the US to stay in the Paris agreement, in part to retain their global competitiveness.

Mr Trump, who has said in the past the concept of global warming was "created by the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive", is expected to announce his decision in the next fortnight.

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Nato warns climate change is 'global security threat' as Donald Trump mulls Paris Agreement - The Independent

Islamic State claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Wednesday that killed eight civilians in an attack on a convoy of NATO armored personnel vehicles.

The blast hit the convoy during the morning rush hour in one of the busiest parts of Kabul. Public health officials said eight civilians were killed and at least 25 wounded, with a number of civilian vehicles that were near the convoy destroyed or badly damaged.

A spokesman for the US-led NATO mission, US Navy Capt. Bill Salvin, said three US service members were wounded in the attack. The vehicles, which are designed to withstand big blasts, were able to return to a base under their own power, he said.

In a statement on its Amaq news agency, Islamic State said a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged car as the convoy passed near the US embassy.

Although the Afghan branch of Islamic State operates largely in the eastern province of Nangarhar, on the border with Pakistan, the movement has also claimed a string of suicide attacks in Kabul.

Witnesses said traces of blood and clothing could be seen on the ground at the blast site.

The heavily armored MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicles that foreign forces use to travel in Kabul appeared to have suffered only relatively minor external damage, witnesses said.

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ISIS claims responsibility for attack on NATO convoy in Kabul - New York Post

After months of harsh rhetoric and threatening tweets, some NATO allies are preparing to spend big on defense.

The Romanian government already uneasy over Russian activities in the Black Sea announced it will spend tens of millions of dollars on advanced weaponry to join just five other NATO countries that have reached an elusive spending goal that Trump has used as a cudgel to criticize the alliance.

NATO is already as a whole stepping it up because theyve been hearing Trumps rhetoric, so while there is no new grand strategy, theres a feeling that allies are looking for ways to do more, and quickly, said a former defense official who spoke under the condition of anonymity.

In fact, the alliance was already shifting before Trump entered the White House. The Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and war in Ukraine galvanized member countries, which gave NATOs military commander, Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, more flexibility to deploy forces. Thousands of troops have taken up positions in the Baltics as part of multinational units.

Trumps influence will be tested when he attends a meeting of NATO leaders in Brussels on May 25, marking the first time many allies will interact with him face-to-face. The meeting will give him the opportunity to speak directly to the alliances heads of state, where he is expected to call again for increased military spending to meet the alliances goal of each member spending 2 percent of its GDP on defense.

For NATOs newest members, however, it is Russia, not Trump, that is motivating their spending. Romanian officials point out that Crimea sits less than 200 miles from its shores, and their country shares a long border with Serbia, which has moved closer to the Kremlin as it buys Russian warplanes and air defense systems. And when NATO opened a missile defense site in Romania last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared the country to be in Moscows crosshairs.

In response, Romania surprised many last month when it announced plans to buy the Patriot missile and air defense system, a U.S.-made platform already in the inventories of 13 allies in Europe and the Middle East.

We need a serious posture of deterrence, Romanias ambassador to the United States, George Maior told FP. Crimea is being militarized by Russia and it can be used as a platform for power projection not only into the Black Sea, but to the southeastern Mediterranean.

The ambassador, who helped shepherd the country into the NATO alliance in 2004 and led the Romanian Intelligence Service from 2006 to 2015, said his government sees the Black Sea as a demarcation line between various threats emerging from the eastern frontier of NATO.

With the fastest growing economy in the European Union, Romania has put together a shopping list that includes small, fast corvettes to patrol its coastline, armored troop carriers, multiple-launch rocket systems, and the latest surveillance and communications equipment.

But Russian officials are pushing back, complaining loudly that the existing missile defense installation already in Romania, called Aegis Ashore, lowers the threshold for a nuclear exchange and breaks a decades-old arms control treaty. Another Aegis Ashore system is slated to open in Poland in 2018.

The Aegis Ashore site includes a powerful radar and air defense missiles that can take down long-range ballistic missiles launched from the Middle East, and is described as a defense against a potential attack from Iran.

The Kremlin says the system violates the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty, which bans land-based cruise missiles with a range from 300 to 3,400 miles, but NATO rejects the claim.

Weve been very clear, about what Aegis Ashore can and cant do, said U.S. European Command spokesman Capt. Danny Hernandez. And we have consistently and openly said this system is not capable of intercepting Russian ICBMs, and any claim otherwise by the Russian government is baseless.

The Russians are pursuing their own missile defense sales to international clients, however. Belarus has taken possession of four battalions of the Russian-made S-300 air defense system and Serbia is currently in talks to buy several of the long-range interceptors.

In August, Russia also deployed an advanced S-400 surface-to-air missile battery to the Crimean peninsula. The weapons can hit targets over 150 miles from its launch site, putting aircraft flying inside Ukraine, and over the Black Sea, well within range.

The deployment underscored Romanias increasing unease over Russia. Once Crimea happened, the new NATO allies scrambled to figure out what their priorities should be, and air defense is a big part of that, said Jim Townsend, who served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for European and NATO policy from 2009 to 2017. Romania shows that they take their defense seriously, because the Black Sea has become an important front with Russia.

In addition to the likely deployment of a Patriot battery to Romania, Moscow has bristled at Polands widely publicized $7.6 billion deal for eight Patriot batteries, which is expected to be finalized in the coming weeks. There are also growing indications that Sweden a non-NATO country and Lithuania may be looking to buy the Patriot system in the coming months several sources told FP, though no announcements have been made.

Though the administration may claim these investments are in response to his strong arming, others say it differs little in substance with the prior administration.

Trumps demands that NATO open its wallet just continues building off of what Obama did, said Jackie Ramos, an advisor to the assistant secretary of defense for International Security Affairs under Barack Obama. The administration pushed hard to get nations to reach the 2 percent spending goal.

The effort wasnt a secret. In April 2016, Obama declared in an interview with The Atlantic that free riders aggravate me. Obama also complained that some NATO allies, along with several Gulf states, were piggybacking on the security that America provides. He even warned then-U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron that London needed to increase its investment in NATO. You have to pay your fair share, Obama said.

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With Demands for More NATO Spending, Romania Steps Up ... - Foreign Policy (blog)

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) Leaders from 34 nations were in the Mermaid City on Monday in order to come up with a way to make the world a safer place.

NATO is hosting its first ever Interdependency in Resilience Conference. Leaders are coming up with a plan to improve understanding of how military, business and civil sectors can work together to reduce risk of any kind of threat. Those include threats from other countries, natural disasters, climate change and warfare especially for our military community.

Norfolk Mayor Kenny Alexander says, This is an opportunity to bring the sectors together to have a better understanding of the risk we face not only as a city, but as a military community but also as a business community.

According to a spokeswoman with the city, Norfolk created one of the worlds first resilience strategies. Its leadership as a living laboratory for building resilience is the reason why NATO chose Norfolk to host its first ever Interdependency in Resilience Conference.The group will develop a resilience blueprint that improves the understanding of how military, business and civil sectors are dependent on each other and must work together to reduce risk and increase readiness.

The conference is taking place at TheMain in downtown Norfolk.

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Norfolk home to NATO conference to discuss safety tactics | WAVY-TV - WAVY-TV