It should be satisfied with. The Secretary -General managed to avoid any malice that could spoil the fun of the US president. It reduced to the lesser possible duration of the summit work, disclosed signs of the public announcement, included a general reference to the alliance’s solidarity with Ukraine, no word for its future integration, no invitation to the Ukrainian president to the main work. The commentators even say whether he finally went to The Hague to reward his partners’ commitment to invest beastly amounts for equipment or more to stay overnight in the royal palace and breakfast with the blue -eyed.
‘Realistic danger’ Russia
And yet. The Russian threat does not seem to be a fantasy of some secret agents. Russia has turned its industry into a war. Spends one -third of its budget for military equipment. And as western secret services have been warned for months, this material cannot be intended only for the war in Ukraine. The NATO partners should start immediately with the implementation in order to be ready.
“Russia has 1.3 million soldiers, a number that will rise to 1.5 million in the coming years” confirms in “Step” Goodram WolfProfessor of Economics at the Free University of Brussels, a senior researcher at the Brueggel Thought Tank and the Kiel Institute of World Economics. “More than half have been tested in battles in Ukraine. Russia has developed an incredible weapon industry, has massively modernized its army. And in this respect, it is a real danger. The country is already in a form of hybrid war with Europe. We are constantly seeing businesses in Europe in which Russia is destroying active infrastructure, cyberattacks. I consider the scenario of a, say, attack on an EU country, e.g. In the Baltic, absolutely realistic. ”
So NATO countries should be throttle. According to the German professor, the awareness of the necessity has gone further in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. “Poland, the Scandinavian countries and the Baltic countries have put forward, unlike France, Italy and Spain where defense spending will be more limited.”
As far as Germany is concerned, the new government has practically as much money as it wants after lifting the so -called brake debt. In his programming statements before leaving for the Hague, the Chancellor reiterated that Germany would acquire Europe’s strongest conventional army. “We have long ignored NATO’s Baltic Warnings about Russia’s imperialist policy. We recognized our mistake and there is no road backwards » he said.
“Saving and Modernization” …
The truth is that all European states invest significantly more in their defense than before the start of the Russian offensive war in Ukraine, but these costs will not automatically lead to greater war capacity by 2030 if the war industry does not turn around. This is one of the alarming results of an important researchers’ exhibition led by Professor Wolf. To achieve the goal, the costs should be reduced through increased competition between weapons manufacturers. “We must be able to reduce costs, and that is the most important thing for me.” Mr. Wolf told us. “If we do not significantly reduce the cost per unit for military equipment, there will be large increases in costs, which will eventually overload citizens and taxpayers.”
It was precisely this position by Mertz when a candidate for Chancellor gave a heavy speech on the foreign policy organized by Körber Global Leaders Dialogue in January in Berlin. It was in favor of a radical reform of European and national military supplies on the basis of the three S, namely Simplification (simplification), standardization (standardization) and scale (scale). And he has been example that NATO European members are developing, manufacturing and maintaining 178 weapons systems, while the US only 30.
Professor Wolf adds another extremely important aspect. “We tend to buy many of all the well -known systems, but we need to invest massively in the modernization of our armed forces, namely artificial intelligence, drones, satellites, data centers, better networking. And in all these areas, so far I see relatively few actions compared to the great debate on money. Money on their own is not enough, we need to pay attention to modernization, effectiveness and cost savings. “
… And technology
After three years, Europe realizes how far its war technology is in relation to Russia, which only with drones attacks military targets and against civilians, making conventional weapons systems just toys. An artificial intelligence drone, as it is recently used, can destroy the most up-to-date multi-million euro battle chariot. Bundesver wants to buy four -digit or larger number of such drones. And to make a comparison, Russia is planning a production of 10,000 drones a day.
Representatives of the German Defense Industry promise to respond to the technological challenge and seek planning security and long -term orders. The head of Airbus René Oberman, For his part, he called for less bureaucracy, priority for European manufacturers and standardization of European weapons systems. In short, the road to Germany – and Europe – is still ready. Whatever the money there is, whatever summits organized by NATO. And whatever flatteries Route does to Trump to make him happy.
