Military planners in Europe are concerned that only a few thousands of their more than one million troops would be ready to deploy rapidly if they became involved in a conflict with Russia, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
Current and former officials said the U.S. wants to increase readiness, and to ensure that at least 30,000 troops as well as additional aircraft and naval ships could reach a trouble spot within 30 days calling for forces to be on alert, the Journal reported.
NATO officials say that the U.S. position on increasing readiness is generally accepted, and allies aim to reach an agreement before a July leadership summit. A U.S. proposal would have NATO commit to having, ready to deploy, 30 battalions, 30 fighters squadrons, and 30 naval ships, the newspaper noted.
"The idea is to get a readiness mind-set, to identify forces where readiness needs to be enhanced, but spread that out among the nations," Hans Binnendijk, a coauthor of a report on NATO responsiveness, told the Journal.
"It is clear that NATO's capacity to reinforce is still far less than is required," Alexander Vershbow, a former NATO deputy secretary-general, told the newspaper.
Current and former allied officials said in the Journal that most European allies have a readiness problem. For example, Greece and Turkey have large armies but are not trained to deploy to locations outside their region. Smaller militaries such as Belgium and Romania have reduced their land forces, the report said.
President Donald Trump's administration has made a priority of increasing military spending in Europe. Countries are working to elevate their spending to a NATO target of 2 percent of gross domestic product, the Journal reported.
Tensions ramped up between Russia and the U.S. and allies this week when NATO joined the U.S., Canada, and a dozen European countries in the expulsion of Russian diplomats, the highest amount since the Cold War.
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