NATO plans to significantly strengthen its defense capabilities, increasing the number of combat-ready brigades to 131 and increasing the number of ground air defense units fivefold. About this informs edition of Die Welt, referring to confidential documents of the German Ministry of Defense.
According to these documents, in the spring of 2024, the countries of the Alliance reached an agreement on the “minimum necessary potential” to protect against possible aggression from Russia. The new standards were set by two of NATO’s top military commanders: American General Christopher Cavoli and French Admiral Pierre Vandieu.
If earlier, in 2021, the Alliance considered it sufficient to have 82 combat brigades, now their number is planned to increase to 131. This means that NATO will add another 49 brigades, each of which will consist of approximately 5 thousand soldiers. For effective command of the new military forces, the number of combat corps should increase from 6 to 15, and divisional headquarters from 24 to 38.
Abandoning this plan is considered undesirable because it could undermine confidence in the Alliance and call into question the ability of NATO’s strategic commanders to respond to challenges, the document says.
In addition to increasing the number of brigades, NATO plans to significantly increase its arsenal of weapons. In particular, ground-based anti-aircraft installations should increase from 293 to 1,467 units, which provides for an additional 1,174 air defense systems, such as Patriot, Iris T-SLM, Skyranger and other systems for close defense. It is also planned to increase the number of helicopters from 90 to 104 units.
As Die Welt notes, these requirements will be distributed among all 32 NATO member states. The level of each country’s contributions will be determined according to its economic potential and population.
