Research Catalog

Title

NATO and the challenges of austerity / F. Stephen Larrabee ... [et al.].

Publication

Santa Monica, CA : RAND Corporation, 2012.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

• Larrabee, F. Stephen.
• National Defense Research Institute (U.S.)

Description

xxiii, 115 p. : ill.; 23 cm.

Summary

"In the coming decade, NATO faces growing fiscal austerity and declining defense budgets. This study analyzes the impact of planned defense budget cuts on the capabilities of seven European members of NATO -- the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and Poland -- that together represent more than 80 percent of NATO Europe's defense spending. The result of the anticipated cuts and future financial constraints is that the capacity of the major European powers to project military power will be highly constrained: The air, land, and sea forces of key U.S. European allies are rapidly reaching the point at which they can perform only one moderate-sized operation at a time and will be hard-pressed to meet the rotation requirements of a protracted, small-scale irregular warfare mission. Power projection and sustainment of significant forces outside Europe's immediate neighborhood will be particularly difficult. The authors discuss these challenges in a strategic context, including the operational and planning weaknesses exposed by NATO's intervention in Libya in 2011, and make recommendations for U.S. policy with regard to NATO."--P. [4] of cover.

Series Statement

Monograph / Rand Corporation

Uniform Title

Rand Corporation monograph series.

Subject

• Europe > Appropriations and expenditures
• Europe > Military policy
• North America > Appropriations and expenditures
• North America > Military policy
• North Atlantic Treaty Organization > Appropriations and expenditures
• North Atlantic Treaty Organization > Operational readiness

Note

• "National Defense Research Institute."
• "MG-1196-OSD"--P. 4 of cover.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 109-115)

Funding (note)

• Prepared for the Office of the Secretary of Defense

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Introduction: The defense spending gap; Purpose and organization of the study -- The impact of defense cuts on key NATO allies: United Kingdom; France; Germany; Italy; Spain; Netherlands; Poland; Future prospects -- NATO Europe's capability for defense and power projection in the coming decade: Defense of NATO territory; Missions in NATO's immediate neighborhood; High-intensity power-projection missions in more distant regions; Long-range operations with small "conventional" forces; Long-range SOF operations; Conclusion -- The broader strategic context: The limits of smart defense; Pooling and sharing; The impact of the Euro crisis; The European defense industrial sector; The Libyan Intervention: lessons and implications; Shifting U.S. defense priorities -- Implications and recommendations for U.S. policy: Transatlantic defense challenges in an era of austerity; Sustaining the alliance over the long run.

ISBN

• 9780833068477 (pbk. : alk. paper)
• 0833068474 (pbk. : alk. paper)

LCCN

^^2012040914

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library