Challenges for Enhanced Military Mobility on the Eastern Flank of NATO

Abstract

Russia’s aggressive policy against Ukraine and growing instability in the Europe have renewed the need to fulfil NATO’s three basic missions, as set out in the Alliance’s Strategic Concept i.e., collective defence, crisis management and ensuring the security of all Allies. Military mobility in Europe has been identified as one of the key steps towards achieving credible deterrence. NATO has a priority interest in achieving the ability to move military troops across Europe as quickly as possible. In 2019, NATO members have already committed to increase their defence budgets to the 2% of their GDP by 2024, in line with previous commitments, a significant part of defence budgets should also be allocated to enhancing military mobility, especially on the NATO’s eastern flank. The aim of the article is therefore to identify the specific challenges to enhanced military mobility on NATO’s eastern flank and possible directions for improving infrastructure on NATO’s eastern flank. At the same time, the findings could be used to propose areas that could positively influence the military mobility and forward presence of Alliance forces on NATO’s eastern flank. The findings provide a framework for managing military mobility in Europe as a realistic endeavour. This endeavour may encounter some political contradictions, but these could be resolved by bilateral or multilateral agreements on technical and administrative issues of military mobility.