Brig. Gen. Maurice Barnett, commanding general of 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, speaks during a closed-door meeting with NATO allies and partners on Sembach Kaserne, Tuesday, April 9, 2024. The talks focused on integrating air defense capabilities. (U.S. Army)
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — The United States voiced an urgent need for NATO countries to better integrate air and missile defense capabilities during closed-door talks with European allies in Germany, officials said.
The 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command hosted the Tuesday talks, which examined Russia’s military tactics in Ukraine among other things.
“The conflict in Ukraine is rapidly altering our conceptions of security in Europe,” 10th AAMDC Commanding General Brig. Gen. Maurice Barnett told attendees at Sembach Kaserne, according to a transcript obtained by Stars and Stripes. “Many minds are now focused on how we fight large scale combat operations in an alliance structure against a peer adversary.”
Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 prompted NATO to deploy various air and missile defense systems to the bloc’s eastern flank to target possible incoming air threats.
While different systems continue to work alongside each other, they don’t necessarily work ideally with each other.
For example, systems made by different countries often are unable to share air pictures collected by their radars because of technical and policy constraints.
To date, efforts at integration have largely been slow and methodical, hampered by factors such as competition between arms manufacturers and disagreements among governments over the best way forward.
U.K. Maj. Ben Johnston, assigned to 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command’s strategy, plans and policy office, facilitates discussions during a closed-door meeting with NATO allies and partners on Sembach Kaserne, Tuesday, April 9, 2024. Johnston said the need to integrate allied air defense capabilities “grows more urgent by the day.” (U.S. Army)
Maj. Ben Johnston, a British soldier assigned to the 10AAMDC who helped organize Tuesday’s meeting, said the aim of the talks was to help allies come up with the most effective ways to operate more cohesively.
“It’s important to hold these talks now because the necessity to integrate air and missile defense capabilities grows more urgent by the day,” Johnston said on the sidelines of the event.
Moscow has been observed targeting critical infrastructure in Ukraine with cruise missiles and following up with dozens of one-way attack drones. To combat this type of combined attack, NATO must have long-range, medium-range and short-range air and missile defense systems at its disposal, Johnston said.
After decades of focusing on counterterrorism, many alliance members have identified gaps in their air defense capabilities.
“Looking at the amount of assets we have to defend within NATO Europe and the available systems we have, there is a shortage,” said Lt. Col. Tony Theunisse of the Royal Netherlands Air Force, who attended Tuesday’s meeting.
Col. Jus Kuijpers, from left, and Lt. Col. Antony Theunisse of the Netherlands military and Lt. Col. Jimmy Wilhelmsson of the Swedish military, listen to Lt. Col. Derk Zielman of the German military speak during a closed-door NATO meeting on air defense on Sembach Kaserne, Tuesday, April 9, 2024. (U.S. Army)
Theunisse — who serves as the deputy director of the Germany-based Competence Center for Surface Based Air and Missile Defense — said as NATO members build air defense capabilities, it’s important to ensure systems work with each other while also working to integrate current systems.
“It’s a priority,” Theunisse said. “We need change now. Air defense is not a small part of what we do within NATO Europe; it’s a very big part.”
Representatives from new NATO members Finland and Sweden participated in the talks, along with representatives from France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Norway and Romania. Non-NATO member Austria also took part.
