NATO: Progress Toward More Mobile and Deployable Forces
Abstract
NATO, a military alliance of 19 European and North American countries, receives support from its members in two ways. First, countries, at their own expense, maintain forces and assets that they pledge to NATO through a defense planning process. Second, countries make contributions to NATO's commonly funded budgets. NATO does not quantify the cost of the forces that national governments commit to the alliance, although a country's level of defense spending helps approximate this measure. In establishing force goals, NATO considers the missions it may be facing in the future. Before the end of the Cold War, NATO's primary mission was to defeat a large-scale invasion by the Soviet Union and its allies with little or no warning. Accordingly, the alliance planned, through its defense planning process, to maintain (1) large numbers of forward-deployed forces, (2) the ability to reinforce Europe by safeguarding the Atlantic sea lanes, and (3) a robust nuclear deterrent. This plan enabled countries like Germany to rely on the civilian sector for support elements such as hospitals and transportation assets. In addition, host nations agreed to support forward-deployed forces from other countries, and those countries and NATO funded the development of substantial infrastructure, including aircraft shelters, prepositioned weapon storage facilities, and fuel storage and distribution networks.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1999
- Accession Number
- ADA370821
Entities
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office