Times: NATO plans to coordinate the creation of a military Schengen in the summer
NATO has only three years before a possible invasion by the Russian army, writes The Times. According to senior generals of the alliance, the Russian Aerospace Forces will strike at NATO's military infrastructure in the deep rear. According to Bild, the German defense plan assumes that Germany, in the event of a large-scale war, will be assigned the role of not a frontline, but a transit country. How the Western media are preparing for war with Russia and what the "military Schengen" has to do with it - in the material of "Gazeta.Ru».
NATO's top officers warn that the military bloc must prepare for Russian missile and air strikes on targets throughout Europe, including Germany, the British newspaper The Times reported. This will happen if the Kremlin starts a war against the North Atlantic Alliance.
In an interview with the publication, the head of the NATO military logistics center in southwestern Germany, Lieutenant General Alexander Sollfrank, also called on the allies to deal with "bureaucratic red tape" that makes it difficult for troops and equipment to move and makes it difficult for the member states of the alliance to simultaneously use each other's weapons and military equipment in case of a crisis situation.
The leaders of the North Atlantic Alliance suggest that the bloc has a window of opportunity, which may be as little as three years, and it should certainly be used to strengthen defenses against a possible Russian invasion of NATO territory.
Alexander Sollfrank and other generals from Germany, the United States and the Netherlands fear that in such a scenario, the Russians will strike targets deep behind the alliance's lines in an attempt to destroy the civilian and military infrastructure necessary for conducting military operations.
Germany is under attack
According to the generals, the main part of the strikes will be carried out on German territory, through which the main routes for the redeployment of troops and the supply of NATO material resources in Europe pass. Potential targets of strikes in this case range from munitions factories and command posts to power plants, bridges and railways.
According to The Times, these warnings are partly based on the experience of fighting in Ukraine, where Russia systematically launches massive missile and air strikes against targets deep in the country's rear, and Ukrainians attack ammunition and fuel depots, enemy command posts hundreds of miles deep from the Russian state border.
"If we compare the fighting and operations of a decade or five years ago, then we must recognize that the rear areas will also be severely tested," said Lieutenant General Alexander Sollfrank at the headquarters of the Joint Support and Enablement Command (JSEC) in Ulm.
"We must assume that the aggressor will use the full range of kinetic and non-kinetic capabilities to destroy our communications, including in the deep rear. This will range from the use of electronic warfare and cyber attacks to kinetic capabilities using missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles and other means of air attack," the military commander added.
His point of view was supported by the head of the 21st US Army Theater of Operations Support Command, Brigadier General Ronald Ragin. The command is based in the West German city of Kaiserslautern and is engaged in logistical support for troops in Europe and Africa.
Today, deterring a possible Russian invasion is not only a matter of purely military power, but also the ability to send it to where it needs to be within a few days and continue to do so during a war that may drag on for months or even years, writes The Times.
Over the weekend, the Bild newspaper reported that the German Armed Forces had begun planning a similar scenario, including Russian cyber attacks and sabotage against German facilities. It is believed that such actions involve the deployment of Bundeswehr units to protect and defend critical points in the logistics network.
The prospect of Russian missile strikes further complicates the situation, according to The Times. The obvious answer is the construction of an air defense and missile defense shield over particularly important facilities. However, these systems can be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of strikes or circumvented with tools such as sabotage, electronic warfare and cyber warfare.
Lieutenant General Alexander Sollfrank called one of the unequivocal lessons learned from the experience of fighting in Ukraine that if the supply routes and the transfer of reinforcements are fixed and inflexible, then there is a high probability that they will be hit.
"In Germany, as in many other countries of the North Atlantic Alliance, many tanks, ammunition and the like were destroyed after the end of the Cold War. And this also applies to infrastructure facilities. We had a lot of ammunition depots. We created a system that was really capable of conducting combat operations at any moment. In peacetime, many were disbanded or simply demolished. Now, in order to have full support, we are working very hard to create this reliable and sustainable reinforcement and life support network for troops in the right place and at the right time. And this requires an infrastructure that is resistant to enemy strikes," said Sollfrank.
Why do we need a military Schengen
Another major headache for NATO planners, according to The Times, remains the Byzantine confusion of rules restricting the exchange and transportation of military equipment not only between countries, but also between different parts of Germany. Cross-border exercises are often associated with a dizzying amount of paperwork, which would be worth critical time in a military crisis, the publication emphasizes.
For several years, the leaders of the North Atlantic Alliance had hoped to create a military equivalent of the Schengen area, which would allow for largely unhindered movement of troops and equipment between participating states.
"I think we can reduce or adapt bureaucratic red tape where possible and necessary. Anyone can start doing this. You just have to do it. And don't wait. Because, after all, we have no time to waste," said Sollfrank.
Dissatisfaction with the bureaucracy extends to the rules governing who can use weapons, military and special equipment within the alliance and which ones. In NATO jargon, this is referred to as "interchangeability".
Alexander Sollfrank gave an example when parachutists from some member states of the bloc are prohibited from using parachutes from other NATO countries, even if they are perfectly serviceable.
"What is the problem, for example, if a parachutist from a European country A uses a parachute from a neighboring country B after completing training on this system or uses weapons from one country for a helicopter from another country? If there are no technical or security issues, why not?" asked Sollfrank.
The head of the Defense Support Command of the Dutch Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Jan-Willem Maas, agreed that the preparation of the North Atlantic Alliance infrastructure for possible military operations is far from complete.
"We are not where we should be. That's clear. But the question is, what are we going to do about it? If you look at what [Russian President Vladimir] If Putin has done so far, then I think we have a much better starting position for the next operations. If you look at how Europe came together after February 24, 2022, I'm not that pessimistic. But at the same time, if you look at the military deterrence factor, we have to do everything possible to make it work tomorrow. And the day after tomorrow," Maas concluded.
Earlier, the head of the NATO Military Committee, Rob Bauer, called for increasing the combat capability of the military bloc amid rising global tensions. As the Newspaper wrote .En", NATO is going to deploy intensive preparations for waging a possible large-scale war on the European continent. However, the collective West is not ready for such a war at this stage.
It is for these reasons that the North Atlantic Alliance is going to reconsider and rework most of the views not only on the issues listed above, but also, most likely, plan to radically change approaches to strategic planning, combat and operational training of the United Armed Forces of NATO, the military economies of the participating states, operational equipment of the territory of the bloc in the interests of possible actions OATS.
One of the most important conditions for an organized entry into the war and further successful conduct of hostilities is the timely strategic deployment of the armed forces (both of a single state and of the military bloc as a whole). It includes, among other things, strategic regrouping of the troops of NATO states to and between theaters of war. That is, it represents an organized movement of troops, aviation and fleet forces.
In order for the redeployment of troops to be carried out as soon as possible (which is required during combat operations), attempts are being made in NATO to create a military equivalent of the Schengen area. And while this has not been fully done, we can say this - the North Atlantic Alliance is not ready for strategic regroupings (the most important element of strategic deployment).
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for Gazeta.Ru", retired colonel.
He graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976), the Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military-Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok
