2 days ago
NATO adapts drones to transport blood to injured frontline soldiers
Russia could "decide to attack us in three to five years," NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte says, and Europe needs to be prepared.
In response, NATO countries are finalising plans to dramatically increase defence spending from 2% of GDP to 5%.
Meanwhile, NATO allies are focusing on strengthening their defence through new capability targets, based on the evolving global security concerns and, in particular, the threat from Russia.
NATO's Griffin Lightning military exercise is one of the most extensive tests of the alliance's capabilities and readiness for war.
The training includes a wide range of hardware, including tanks, howitzers, attack helicopters, drones, live-fire drills and fully functional field hospitals.
Field hospitals are crucial as the first line of defence, preventing death or major life-changing injuries.
Overall, drones are the dominant weapon in Russia's war in Ukraine and are responsible for the majority of casualties and injuries.
Armies are now preparing for the widespread integration of drone technology into life-saving situations on the battlefield. Drones will be used to transport blood directly to the injured soldier on the frontline, buying crucial time with blood transfusions until a soldier can receive more comprehensive care.
In Lithuania and across the Baltic states, armies are using former Soviet missile depots as control centres for NATO allies and for storing medical supplies and field and dental hospitals.
Medical staff react to drills and emergency life-saving treatments that are common to battlefield injuries. Field hospitals are there to stabilise patients, with IV access, intubations and CT scanners for head trauma and brain injuries.
Hospital 519 is an American-led facility in the centre of Lithuania with hypothetical patients displaying injuries common to the battlefield, especially the current frontline in Ukraine.
It's part of the US Swift Response military exercise within NATO, which tests the ability of US battalions and military medical personnel to respond immediately to a potential Russian invasion in the Baltic states or other frontline countries in Europe.
"The injuries we're seeing in Ukraine are different to the war in Iraq or Afghanistan," dental officer Major Frederick Dawson told Euronews.
In Ukraine, "soldiers are wearing body armour and helmets so a lot of the injuries are to the extremities and to the face which highlights the need for a dentist on the battlefield," he explained.
"If a soldier has tooth injuries through trauma or disease, it might affect their ability to wear their helmet and then they can't fight."
Crucially, the war in Ukraine is informing how NATO is preparing for battlefield injuries.
"The US army medical leadership and dental corps leadership have been studying the trends in Ukraine very closely to try to see how we can modernise our army medical team to include the dental team to be better prepared for large scale combat operations," he said.
Meanwhile, US NATO soldiers also say they now conceal the Red Cross medical symbol at military hospitals or medical centres.
"We try not to have our vehicles or tents with the cross. We try to hide that from sight," Major Hong Duan, a pharmacist with the US military, told Euronews.
"From what I've learned, yes, it's not respected," he said.
Hospitals and other critical civilian infrastructure have protected status under international humanitarian law. However, according to several military experts, it is largely no longer respected in many current war zones.
The European Commission plans to launch a vast operation to clean up PFAS (Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances), also known as "forever chemicals" in water through the creation of public-private partnerships.
These were the conclusions of the European Water Resilience Strategy, adopted on Wednesday in Brussels.
In 2022, out of 1,300 monitoring sites in Europe, 59% of rivers, 35% of lakes and 73% of coastal waters exceeded the environmental quality standard for perfluorooctanesulphonic acid (PFOS), a type of PFAS, according to the European Environment Agency (EEA).
In Europe, only 37% of surface waters are in good or very good ecological health and 29% have achieved good chemical status, according to the agency.
Environmental associations, which are campaigning for a ban on PFAS at the source, are denouncing this as a "missed opportunity".
"We expected to see more ambition to reduce pollution at the source," said Angeliki Lyssimachou, head of science and policy at the Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Europe.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances are dubbed "forever chemicals" because they don't easily break down in the environment and accumulate in humans and animals over time.
Health costs are estimated at €52 to €84 billion a year and some of the chemicals have been classified as carcinogenic.
These chemical compounds are non-stick, waterproof and resistant to high temperatures. They are also present in many everyday items such as non-stick frying pans, fire-fighting foams and medical devices.
Jessika Roswall, the European Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resilience said she was in favour of banning PFAS in consumer products such as cosmetics and food packaging. However, she stressed that it would be difficult to ban all PFASs, as some do not yet have an effective alternative.
"The problem is that we need PFASs for many different products. For example, medical products like inhalers (...) or many things for which there is no substitution. In terms of the ecological transition, semiconductors, digitisation or the defence industry," Roswall told Euronews.
In a leaked document, the Commission's estimated range for the annual cost of PFAS decontamination in Europe was wide, at anywhere from €5 all the way to €100 billion. For the water sector alone, the cost could increase to up to €18 billion annually for drinking water treatment.
For some pollutants, such as TFA (trifluoroacetic acid, a type of PFAS), the clean-up is not so simple.
"According to the water companies, it's a very expensive process that involves extracting all the minerals from the water and adding them back. At the end of the day, you're going to lose a lot of water," says Angeliki Lyssimachou. "So you're going to consume a lot more energy.
The Commission wants to apply the "polluter pays" principle and reserve public funding for sites where it has not been possible to identify who is responsible.
The European Water Resilience Strategy aims to restore the water cycle and ensure access to clean, affordable water at a time when Europe is facing extreme weather events such as floods and droughts. 34% of the EU is affected by water shortages.
"Water is life. Water resilience is essential for our citizens, our farmers, the environment and businesses. The Commission's Water Resilience Strategy sets out the path towards a sustainable, resilient, smart and competitive water economy. We must act now to protect this resource," said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a statement.
The European action plan also includes raising awareness for these issues through public debates, increasing European funding for infrastructure modernisation, supporting digitisation through the EU's Copernicus Earth observation programme, and supporting innovation.
