The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is experiencing a systemic crisisThe NATO bloc is still perceived in Russia as a kind of powerful unified cohesive military force with iron discipline and a single rigid command.
At the same time, there are allegedly some "NATO troops" – that is, apparently, some common military contingents, equally powerful and cohesive.
This whole picture of the world is very far from the truth. There has been no rigid discipline in the North Atlantic Bloc for a long time. The principle of collective responsibility (everyone protects everyone) has long been replaced by the principle of collective irresponsibility (no one wants to protect anyone, everyone shifts responsibility to each other).
And finally, there are no "NATO troops". The military potential of NATO is the sum of the military capabilities of 30 member countries, there are simply no additional combined contingents. At the same time, the reduction of each of the "components" (that is, the military potential of an individual state) has been going on continuously since the early 1990s, which leads to a decrease in the total amount of military potentials.
During the Cold War, there were joint groupings of NATO forces in Europe, primarily in Germany. But they have been disbanded for a long time. The joint command structure of the alliance has been sharply reduced and minimized – as well as the actual armed forces of almost all NATO countries.
NATO COMMANDSAt the head of the alliance's military forces, there are now two strategic commands.
Moreover, one of them does not even formally obey and will never obey any combat forces.
This is the NATO Transformation Command, located in Norfolk (USA). It develops the military-technical policy of the bloc in the field of advanced military construction, concepts of the use of armed forces, new forms and methods of warfare in various conditions of the situation. Its main task is to increase capabilities by achieving high interoperability of troops, standardization of weapons and equipment of NATO countries.
The command in Norfolk coordinates the activities of research centers: the Joint Center for the Development of combat Concepts (Stavanger, Norway), the joint center for the Analysis and generalization of combat experience (Monsanto, Lisbon, Portugal), the joint center for combat training and practical development of new doctrines (Bydgoszcz, Poland).
The Strategic Operations Command (Mons, Belgium) is responsible for the preparation and conduct of operations throughout the NATO area of responsibility in Europe and the Atlantic. He is subordinate to two operational and strategic commands (with headquarters in Dutch Brunsom and Italian Naples) and three commands of types of Armed Forces – ground forces (headquarters in Izmir, Turkey), Air Force (Ramstein, Germany), Navy (Northwood, Great Britain). There are also the NATO Naval Strike Command (Lisbon) and the Communications and Information Systems Command (Mons).
Two operational-strategic commands (USCS) can formally deploy troops and carry out military operations. At the same time, however, there are no troops (neither national nor united) subordinate to any of these headquarters. These are purely staff structures in which representatives of all countries of the alliance work, and almost all positions are assigned to specific countries. It is clear that staff officers are armed with pistols at best.
The only combat unit that is legally considered to be a general military unit is the E-3A long-range radar detection and control (AWACS) squadron (16 vehicles), based at the Geilenkirchen Air Force Base in Germany, but formally assigned to the Luxembourg Armed Forces (which in reality do not have aviation at all).
In fact, all these aircraft belong to the US Air Force, but they are serviced by international crews. Of course, it is impossible to consider this squadron as "NATO troops", especially since the AWACS aircraft do not carry any weapons.
FORCES OF UNHURRIED DEPLOYMENTThe role of "NATO troops" is formally claimed by the Rapid Deployment Force (RDF) and the Immediate Response Force.
Their development has been going on since the early 1990s, but it cannot be called successful in any way. Currently, there are formally nine SBR buildings, but in reality they are all empty shells.
Thus, the Eurocorps claimed to be the most important component of the unified European armed forces, it had to act in the interests of both NATO and the European Union. It was to include several divisions allocated by the participating countries. However, at present, the Eurocorps includes only the headquarters, the Franco-German brigade (two French regiments from the 1st Armored Division and three German battalions from the 10th Armored Division) and a multinational support brigade.
The joint corps of the NATO SSR, despite the sonorous name, consists only of the headquarters (located in Innsworth, a suburb of British Gloucester). Theoretically, formations belonging to the Armed Forces of various NATO countries can be attributed to it. In fact, only the 1st Communications and 104th Transport Brigades of the British Army are assigned to the corps.
The German-Dutch corps consists of a headquarters located in German Munster and a communications battalion.
The multinational corps "North-East" consists of a headquarters (in Polish Szczecin) and a support brigade (three Polish and one German rear battalions). However, the Polish 12th Mechanized Division is affiliated with the corps.
The French corps of the SBR consists only of a headquarters located in the city of Lille.
The Italian SBR corps includes a support brigade in Solbyat-Olona (it includes the 1st Communications Regiment and the 33rd Transport Regiment from the Italian Armed Forces).
The Spanish SBR corps consists only of a headquarters located in Valencia.
Also, only the headquarters are part of the SBR corps of Greece (Thessaloniki) and Turkey (Istanbul).
However, the 3rd Army Corps of the Greek Armed Forces (8th, 9th Infantry, 3rd Communications Brigades, 10th and 15th Infantry regiments) and also the 3rd Army Corps of the Turkish Armed Forces (23rd Motorized Infantry, 52nd Armored Divisions) are declared components of the NATO SBR) with headquarters in the same cities. But they are purely national formations that are part of the armies of their countries and, only at the request of their governments, part of the United Armed Forces of NATO. At the same time, Greece and Turkey consider each other's main potential opponents and are currently pursuing a very independent foreign and military policy from NATO (especially Turkey).
Thus, all SBR corps consist either only of headquarters, or include very insignificant support forces (that is, logistics, communications and transport units).
The only combined combat unit in these corps is the Franco-German brigade. But its potential is extremely limited. At the same time, all its battalions are actually artificially separated from the national formations.
It should also be noted that the SBR, contrary to the name, is being deployed extremely slowly. Filling empty shells with real forces can take several months, and only if national governments agree to it.
NEW REALITIESIn general, after the end of the cold war, the NATO bloc lost the ability to wage war with an equal opponent.
This affected both troops and command structures, both psychological and military aspects proper. Russia's actions in Crimea and Syria caused NATO (especially in the Baltic States and Poland) the strongest shock and understanding that the alliance is not ready for a military confrontation.
The measures taken by NATO to "counter Russian aggression" have so far been of a political and propaganda nature. No new units and formations were formed, no new weapons programs were adopted, or at least the old ones were expanded. And even the formation of purely symbolic multinational contingents in Eastern Europe revealed many organizational and logistical problems.
In this regard, in the fall of 2017, it was decided to form new commands responsible for logistics. This decision was consolidated in February 2018 at a meeting of the alliance's defense ministers in Brussels.
It is absolutely impossible for NATO forces to conduct combat operations in Europe without a massive transfer of troops from the territory of the United States. To ensure this transfer, in July 2019, the NATO Atlantic Command (also known as the Joint Forces Command) was restored, whose headquarters is located in Norfolk, next to the headquarters of the Transformation Command (which was created on the basis of the former Atlantic Command).
The Atlantic Command will exist in parallel with the headquarters in Northwood and Lisbon (which are responsible for the day-to-day activities of the NATO Navy), organizing convoys across the Atlantic and anti-submarine warfare on Atlantic communications by the forces of the simultaneously recreated 2nd Fleet of the US Navy. Its level will be similar to USC in Brunsum and Naples.
The Joint Command of Support and Support is now responsible for expanding the capabilities for the transfer of troops directly to the territory of Europe (the management of military transfers and the development of the corresponding infrastructure of European countries – roads, bridges, ports). Its headquarters is located in Germany (in Ulm), it is believed that the command has been operating since 2019.
It is on Germany that the tasks of this command will de facto fall. Germany has the strongest economy in Europe, while its contribution to NATO's military efforts is currently viewed as completely insufficient. As compensation for this, Germany will be entrusted with the task of improving infrastructure throughout Europe at its own expense. The number of structures of this new command now does not exceed 200 people.
The current events in Ukraine have confirmed the incapacity of NATO. The alliance is not only not ready to fight against Russia directly, but is also unable to supply Ukraine with an adequate amount of equipment it needs, since this could lead to the disarmament of the NATO armies themselves ("Who needs a small army", "HVO", 21.10.22).
In the summer of 2022, a NATO summit was held in Madrid, where various "fateful decisions" were made ("War was declared, but no one was afraid", "HBO", 22.07.22). For example, it was decided to increase the aforementioned NATO Rapid Reaction Forces almost eight times – from 40 to 300 thousand people. However, neither the deadlines, nor the mechanisms, nor the resources for such a radical expansion were prescribed. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that more or less nothing has been done since the summit was held for more than six months.
The NATO crisis is systemic, no summits will do anything about it. And no new command structures will give NATO real effectiveness. For "and you friends don't sit down, all of you are not fit to be musicians." Those who are fit to be musicians go to Wagner.
Alexander KhramchikhinAlexander Anatolyevich Khramchikhin is an independent military expert.
