NATO heads of state and government will gather in Washington on 9-11 July to mark the Alliance’s 75th anniversary. While a third year of full-scale war rages in Europe, they will need to guard the tone of their celebrations. But it would be remiss of the Allies not to recognise the importance and success of their organisation. NATO remains the essential transatlantic forum. It has had huge positive impact on security in Europe and elsewhere, built shared understanding and purpose among a growing number of members, and successfully adapted to decades of changing circumstances. There is much to applaud.
But there is also work to be done. The summit’s main business will concern Ukraine, defence and deterrence, and burden-sharing. While there are unlikely to be big announcements, the summit should play a significant role in ensuring that the decisions taken in Madrid in 2022, and Vilnius in 2023 are properly implemented. This series of briefs examines some of the key issues for the Washington Summit.
In the fifth brief of the series, Nele Loorents examines progress in implementing NATO’s regional defence plans. These operational plans, adopted at the Vilnius Summit in 2023, are also intended to be a key driver of NATO’s capability planning process. NATO has revealed little about the implementation of the plans in the past year. But it is clear that serious capability gaps need to be addressed if the Alliance’s deterrence and defence posture on the north-east flank and elsewhere is to be credible.
Read: Brief 5. NATO’s Regional Defence Plans (PDF)
Read also:
- Brief 4. Finland: Integrating a new Ally
- Brief 3. The Washington Summit: Burden-sharing
- Brief 2. NATO and the Baltic Region
- Brief 1. NATO-Ukraine: From Vilnius to Washington