NATO nations meet in Brussels on Wednesday under mounting
pressure to expand cooperation in defense projects given big cuts looming in
the U.S. defense budget.
The two-day meeting of NATO
defense ministers comes as the 28-member alliance is close to concluding an
air-and-sea campaign in Libya that saw Muammar Gaddafi overthrown without a
single NATO casualty.
However, NATO remains bogged
down in a hugely expensive war inAfghanistan,
where 10 years of Western fighting has failed to subdue a Taliban insurgency,
and officials say the extra effort in Libya has exposed limitations that must
be addressed.
In the lead-up to a NATO
summit in Chicago in May, alliance Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen
wants members to identify projects in which they can cooperate to make best use
of resources at a time of severe economic austerity in which defense budgets
have been particularly badly hit.
"Improving our
capabilities is not only necessary -- it is vital," he told a briefing on
Monday, adding that Libya and Afghanistan had shown shortcomings among non-U.S.
allies in key areas such as unmanned surveillance drones, intelligence
gathering and air-to-air refuelling.
"We must spend on
priorities and spend together, by financing shared projects that make us all
safer."
Rasmussen champions
"Smart Defense," saying this does not mean spending more, "but
spending more effectively." However, the bid to cut duplication and waste
faces foot-dragging by governments anxious to project domestic defense
industries.
PRESSURE GROWING
Pressure is growing now that
the United States, which spends far more on defense than its NATO allies
combined, faces the prospect of having to cut its spending by as much as $1
trillion over 10 years.
So far, U.S. President Barack
Obama and Congress have approved $350 billion in cuts to national security
spending. If a Congressional "super committee" fails to reach a
deficit deal by
the year-end, automatic across-the-board cuts could take another $600 billion
from that budget.
This has raised questions
about the future of expensive cooperative projects, such as a U.S.-led missile
defense initiative, and some in the U.S. Congress have argued for further cuts
in the 79,000 U.S. military personnel in Europe.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon
Panetta, on his first trip to Europe since taking over the position this year,
will explain some of the consequences in a 0800 GMT speech on Wednesday before
meeting his NATO counterparts.
"What you will hear from
Panetta is the reality that the United States will have to start cutting its
defense budget and will cut its defense budget," a senior NATO diplomat
said.
"That means that the
time in which Europe could rely on the United States to do everything; that
era, if it ever existed, now is clearly coming to a close.
"That is why it's so
important that we begin a serious discussion about how we can meet our core
requirements and field the capabilities we need by working more together. The United
States is not going to be filling the gaps forever."
In June, Panetta's
predecessor Robert Gates fired a sharp parting shot at European allies saying
future U.S. leaders might not consider U.S. investment in NATO worthwhile
unless the decline in European defense capabilities was reversed.
"That is truer today that
when Gates was here in June," the NATO diplomat said.
Among the joint NATO projects
the United States is particularly keen to see progress this week is Allied
Ground Surveillance, a system that will employ drones to provide a picture of
ground conditions from high altitude.
The project, to which 13
countries have committed, would be based around the Global Hawk RQ-4B drone
produced by U.S. firm Northrop Grumman. However it has been under discussion
for a decade and NATO states have yet to agree how to jointly fund its
operation, maintenance and support.
(Reporting by David
Brunnstrom; Editing by Myra MacDonald)
Source : Reuters
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