NATO agreed to strengthen defenses to counter the potential of Russian missiles on Wednesday, but stopped short of deploying new nuclear missiles in Europe.
Ministers of the 30-member military bloc met in a two-day videoconference, after Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on Sunday of Russia's cutting-edge weaponry, prominently mentioning its development of hypersonic weapons and defenses against similar weapons of enemies.
"Russia's behavior is destabilizing and dangerous,"NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said at the conclusion of the conference. "At our meeting today, ministers discussed these challenges and agreed a balanced package of political and military elements."
"This includes strengthening our integrated air and missile defense," Stoltenberg said. "A number of Allies have announced they are acquiring new air and missile defense systems, including Patriot and SAMP/T [missile defense] batteries."
"We will maintain our deterrence and defense but we will not mirror Russia," he added, a reference to recent Russian troop deployments and conventional missile production. "We have no intention to deploy new land-based nuclear missiles in Europe."
He also encouraged member nations' purchase of F-35 fighter planes from the United States.
Stoltenberg recently said U.S. plans to reduce its troop strength in Germany but increase it in Poland could "best serve the defense of all of Europe."
Prior to the meeting, the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy, and Spain suggested, in a joint letter, the establishment of a non-NATO unified European armed force under the direction of the European Union.
"We [the EU] should keep reinforcing military [operations]," such as the naval mission dealing with Libya, the letter said.
"We need a greater common strategic understanding of what we want to be able to do as Europeans in security and defense," officials said in the letter. "With a view to our single set of forces, we need to plan and develop our defense capabilities strategically to be able to act with real operational output."
Related Links
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com
All about missiles at SpaceWar.com
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com
| Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution. |
||
| SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal |
 |
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only |
Nuclear powers modernising, arms control outlook 'bleak': report
Stockholm (AFP) June 14, 2020
Nuclear powers continue to modernise their arsenals, researchers said Monday, warning that tensions were rising and the outlook for arms control was "bleak". "The loss of key channels of communication between Russia and the USA... could potentially lead to a new nuclear arms race," said Shannon Kile, director of the nuclear arms control programme at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) and co-author of the report. Russia and the US account for more than 90 percent of the ... read more
from Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense https://ift.tt/3dgoX3H
via space News
No comments: