Latest news with #militaryreadiness
Telegraph
9 hours ago
- Business
- Telegraph
EU green rules blocking military expansion
European countries have blamed the EU's environmental regulations for hindering their preparations for defending against a possible Russian invasion. In a leaked letter obtained by The Telegraph, the nations' defence ministers argued the rules had stopped the expansion of military bases and prevented fighter jet pilots from training. 'EU legislation may not prevent member states' armed forces from carrying out necessary activities to become operationally ready. But right now, it does,' they wrote in a letter to Andrius Kubilius, the defence commissioner. 'Mainly (but not exclusively) in the areas of procurement legislation, nature conservation and environmental protection, and more generally the administrative burden on defence organisations deriving from various EU legal acts.' The letter was signed by the Dutch, Swedish, German, Belgian, Czech, Latvian, Lithuanian, Romanian, Finnish, Estonian and Danish governments. In 2023, the commission published the 'Greening the armies' report, highlighting ways militaries present a challenge to climate change. It pushed for European armed forces to consider more virtual training exercises, rather than real-world sessions, to cut down on emissions. EU sources said directives on habitats, the protection of wild birds and waste were also standing in the way of European preparations for a Russian invasion. The waste directive, for example, means militaries have to hit certain quotas for waste disposal, which could hinder their ability to exercise with live munitions. 'At the moment, some EU legislation forms a direct obstacle to the armed forces,' they wrote, adding: 'Credible deterrence in practice means growing the armed forces, which requires space for training, including flying, navigating and driving and building appropriate amenities.' The ministers called for every new piece of EU legislation to be screened for its impact on the Continent's rearmament efforts before it is allowed to enter into force. 'Making the EU legal framework fit for this time, horizontally and especially in non-defence specific areas, is a crucial piece of the readiness puzzle,' they concluded. The EU has set itself a target to be prepared for a potential Russian invasion in five years' time. It is hoped the bloc's strategy will see around €800 billion (£674 billion) spent on defence in what period by relaxing debt rules and using joint debt to fund purchases. The commission had promised to ease regulations that could hinder the rearmament efforts, but have yet to do so in any significant way. Sustainable finance rules, which state that investments must be made with the environment in mind, have also been considered a hindrance. Last week, The Telegraph reported that a Swedish businessman attempting to open only the bloc's second military grade TNT factory, used to produce artillery ammunition, land mines and grenades, was being held up by environmental permits. Vladimir Putin, who European Intelligence officials believed will be ready to attack Nato within five years, does not demand the same environmental protections when opening factories across Russia.
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE The NATO island being turned into a floating fortress ready to repel a Russian invasion of Europe
Europe's efforts to make ready its armed forces in anticipation of a major conflict with Moscow have broken new ground as the Russia-Ukraine war entered a new phase yesterday following a historic operation by Kyiv 's security service. Ukraine on Sunday pulled off an unprecedented attack in which swarms of kamikaze drones emerged from strategically placed trucks to demolish dozens of military aircraft at four separate airbases across the Russian Federation. The breathtaking offensive, codenamed 'Operation Spiderweb' by Ukraine's SBU security service and personally overseen by President Volodymyr Zelensky - was so devastating that Russian military bloggers termed the operation 'Russia's Pearl Harbor'. Now, as a furious Vladimir Putin plots his response, European leaders and defence chiefs are working to ensure their militaries can meet any threat from Moscow head-on. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer today vowed to make the UK 'battle-ready' while committing to building 12 new nuclear-powered submarines and at least six new munitions factories as part of the government's Strategic Defence Review. Elsewhere, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz last week declared that Berlin will finance the production of long-range missiles in Ukraine, shortly after pushing a €500 billion defence and infrastructure spending bill through parliament. But nowhere is this drive for remilitarisation more apparent than Sweden 's island of Gotland - a 1,000-square-mile tourist hotspot in the Baltic Sea undergoing a rapid transformation into a floating fortress and a key NATO military outpost. On a visit to Gotland late last month, Sweden's Chief of Defence Staff and Vice Supreme Commander Carl-Johan Edström told MailOnline about his vision for Gotland as a future NATO hub and first line of defence against Russian aggression. He also warned that the transatlantic security alliance 'cannot take its eyes off Russia for the next 15 years' and said that Gotland must be ready to 'take a hit' from Moscow's forces and keep fighting. The recognition that Europe must prepare for a clash with Moscow comes amid fears Vladimir Putin will seek revenge after the Russia-Ukraine war entered a new phase this weekend The importance of Gotland's position is hard to overstate. It sits just 120 miles from the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - all NATO members - and only 230 miles from Russia's heavily militarised Kaliningrad exclave. With Sweden now part of the transatlantic security alliance, Gotland offers allied nations an ideal base from which to surveil and deter Russian air and naval threats over the Baltic Sea, and - in wartime - provide air cover for NATO troops engaged in Europe while striking Russian-held positions. But after a near-total demilitarisation of the island prior to the Russia-Ukraine war, Sweden's military is in a race against time to reconstitute the island's fighting force and build the infrastructure required to support a major conflict. 'Gotland is such an important island and territory for the defence and deterrence of the whole area of responsibility for NATO,' Lieutenant General Edström told MailOnline. 'I see one big role as being the hub for NATO logistics from the West to the East. 'The second role is to be a platform where you can project power to actually control the sea-level communications and also the airspace over the Baltic Sea to create our own A2/AD (anti-access and area denial) bubble. 'And the third one, (Gotland) would be a perfect place also to build up offensive capabilities needed for deep strike, for example, to defend NATO allies (from a Russian attack)'. Gotland's strategic value as both a logistics hub and a launchpad for strikes against Russian military assets in the event of an attack on Europe is not lost on other Western defence chiefs. German General Carsten Breuer said a huge increase in production by Russia's military industrial base indicated that Moscow is preparing its stockpiles of weaponry and ammunition for a future clash with NATO, adding that Baltic states were at a particularly high risk of being attacked. 'The Baltic States are really exposed to the Russians, right? And once you are there, you really feel this... in the talks we are having over there,' he told the BBC. He recounted that Estonian defence officials had used the analogy of being close to a wildfire where they 'feel the heat, see the flames and smell the smoke', but in Western Europe 'you probably see a little bit of smoke over the horizon and not more'. Last week, David Petraeus, a respected former US general and CIA chief, said Russia could launch an incursion into the Baltic state of Lithuania to test Western resolve, or as a precursor to a wider offensive. Zelensky claimed that this attack was one for the 'history books' From de-militarisation to re-militarisation During the Cold War, Gotland was home to thousands of soldiers as Stockholm took precautions in the face of a potential Soviet attack, despite Sweden's two-century-long policy of military neutrality. Defence analysts termed the island Sweden's 'unsinkable aircraft carrier', such was its strategic value. But in the post-Soviet era, with geopolitical tensions easing and defence budgets tightening, Stockholm began a gradual wind-down. By 2005, the island was almost entirely demilitarised - its garrisons decommissioned, equipment sold off and personnel withdrawn, save for a skeletal presence of Home Guard troops. Russia's annexation of Crimea and the eruption of war in Eastern Ukraine came as a wake-up call for Swedish defence planners. The idea of conventional war in Europe no longer seemed far-fetched, and Gotland - adrift in the Baltic Sea within striking distance of Kaliningrad - looked dangerously exposed. In response, Stockholm performed an abrupt about-face. A 2015 defence bill called for a new mechanised battalion to be re-established on the island, and by 2018, the Gotland Regiment had been formally reactivated. In 2020, the regiment assumed command over a scaled-down unit known as the 181st Armoured Battalion, and new conscripts began training on the island for the first time since the Cold War. But Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 sent the remilitarisation process into overdrive - and prompted Sweden to break with its long held policy of neutrality by applying to join NATO. Now, a full brigade combat team is in development. By 2027, Sweden wants the capacity to station around 4,500 troops on the island to not only oversee its air defence and reconnaissance operations, but to hold off invaders in the event of an attack. Sweden's Defence Forces spokesman Tomas Angshammer told MailOnline this force will include a mechanised battalion, an infantry battalion and a Home Guard battalion, backed by specialised units including signal, engineering, air defence, artillery and medical support. An Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) platoon and a combat logistics hub are also planned, ensuring that Gotland can both defend itself and receive and sustain reinforcements in the event of a conflict with full operational capacity by 2030. A 2015 defence bill called for a new mechanised battalion to be re-established on the island, and by 2018, the Gotland Regiment had been formally reactivated To support this force, Sweden's Fortification Agency has launched a sweeping infrastructure programme. New barracks and a medical facility were completed last year along with a mess hall, exercise and maintenance areas to support permanent troops and the training of new conscripts, whose number is increasing year on year. Maintenance facilities for tanks and armoured vehicles are almost complete, and construction has begun on a state-of-the-art logistics centre and agency office, set for completion next year. These developments will enable Gotland to function not just as a standalone garrison, but as a fully fledged forward operating base capable of hosting allied forces and acting as a central hub for the defence of the Baltics and NATO's Eastern flank. Lt. Gen. Edström acknowledged that a huge amount of work remains before Gotland can field a fully operable fighting force while also hosting allied troops, but said the island's regiment had been 'doing a really great job' in preparations thus far. 'I really love this regiment because the infrastructure is brand new, but it takes time... It takes time to build a new infrastructure. 'From that perspective, we have some constraints when it comes to how many soldiers we can take and host at one step,' he said. 'But I would say Gotland as an island has been used to host big international exercises for years - all the units that are working here are comfortable working together with allies already.' Russian designs on Gotland Moscow is well aware of Gotland's strategic importance. If the Kremlin were also to gain control of the island, it would leave Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania sandwiched between the Russian mainland to the East, Kaliningrad to the West and yet another strategic location to the North. Not only would this isolate the Baltic States from the rest of their NATO allies, it would dramatically enhance Russia's air and maritime capabilities in the Baltic Sea to threaten the Nordics and Western Europe. A Russian annexation of Gotland would also allow Moscow to reinforce and provide air cover to its forces should Putin decide to launch an attack on the Suwalki Gap. This 40-mile stretch of sparsely populated land along the borders of Poland and Lithuania has long been seen as one of NATO's strategic vulnerabilities and the only thing preventing Moscow from connecting Kaliningrad with satellite state Belarus. Prior to the launch of Gotland's remilitarisation programme, Russia conducted a widely condemned military drill which saw two Tu-22M3 nuclear bombers, along with an escort of Su-27 fighter jets, perform dummy bombing manoeuvres that brought their wings within just 24 miles of the island. Sweden's accession to NATO last year prompted alarm bells to ring in Moscow, with officials and analysts warning that Russia's forces could not allow a full remilitarisation of Gotland. Russia's Strategic Culture Foundation - a platform for defence and geopolitical analysis - last year claimed that Gotland would be the 'number one target' of Russian nuclear weapons in the event of a full-scale European war. 'Experts from the Russian Analytical Center for Strategic Nuclear Forces indicate that at the very beginning of such a conflict, Russian armed forces would launch a nuclear strike on Sweden in order to prevent NATO cruise missile strikes on ships of the Baltic and Northern Fleets,' the publication read. 'It would be better for Sweden to remain a neutral country and for the island of Gotland to remain a tourist mecca than to become the number one target for Russian nuclear missiles.' Russian military analyst and retired Navy Captain Vasily Dandykin also told Russian newswire Sputnik: 'The size of this island makes it possible to put aviation, airfields, and naval bases... (to serve) the dream of both NATO bloc and the Americans to turn the Baltic Sea into a NATO sea. We understand what kind of threat this is. 'In any case, more intensive [Russian] exercises will take place in the Baltic. We have to understand that Finland too is already a NATO member. Therefore, our actions will be adequate – both from Kaliningrad, where the Baltic Fleet is based, and from the rest of Russia.' Lt. Gen. Edström told reporters in Gotland: 'It's very important to understand that, although Russia is engaged in special operations that were war against Ukraine, they see themselves in a long-term conflict with the West. 'Even if the war in Ukraine - which I hope really soon will have a ceasefire or even a peace agreement - comes to an end, that doesn't mean that Russia will change their mind, they will stay in conflict with the West. 'That means that we can't take our eyes off Russia, for the foreseeable 10 or 15 years to come.' Sweden's total defence concept The rapid militarisation of Gotland is symptomatic of a wider push to prepare Sweden's armed forces and civil society for war. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said in January that Sweden was 'not at war... but there is not peace either', and urged Swedes to prepare themselves for every eventuality. This effort, known as 'Total Defence Duty', is laid out in stark terms by the government. 'From the year you turn 16 until the end of the year you turn 70, you are part of Sweden's total defence and required to serve in the event of war or the threat of war,' a statement on the Swedish government's crisis information portal reads. Lt. Gen. Edström told MailOnline that Sweden's military is already working closely with various public sector agencies and private companies to provide training and instruction to civilians. 'We are doing that all the time - that's ongoing work. We have divided Sweden into four military regions, plus Gotland as a fifth. These regions are working very closely with civil agencies, authorities, entities, and companies to strengthen the total defence concept. 'That means also sometimes to share plans between military and civilian units and do joint exercises. This is something we're working on closely at the moment - these are active efforts with real training, cooperation plans, and integration.' He later told reporters: 'We are building a resilient island that can take a hit and continue to work on the civilian as well as on the military side. 'That is our goal: to continue to grow the resilience of the Swedish society and the total defence concept, but also specifically for Gotland's capability to take a hit and continue to work.' As part of the total defence concept, the government has created the post of minister for civil defence to work alongside the armed forces minister, so civilians can be mobilised as well as the military. In November, Sweden's Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) distributed five million pamphlets to residents urging them to prepare for the possibility of war. The booklet named 'If Crisis or War Comes' contained information about how to prepare for emergencies such as war, natural disasters, cyber attacks and terrorism. The government is investing in improving the emergency services' capacity to operate during conflicts, strengthening cybersecurity and replenishing medicine stocks. And the MSB said last month it had begun a huge project to modernise the nation's nuclear shelters - a task it expected to take 'two to three years' - which includes efforts to upgrade filters which help protect occupants from chemical and radiological weapons. With 64,000 bunkers sites spread across the country, Sweden already has more shelters than almost every other nation with space for around seven million people - more than two-thirds of its population. The bunkers are designed to provide protection against shockwaves and bomb fragments, the blast and heatwaves from a nuclear weapon, radioactive fallout, gas from chemical weapons and biological weapons.
Japan Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Japan Times
Welfare demands put pressure on Starmer's commitment to defense overhaul
A revamp of defense policy by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer intended to show both U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin that the U.K. is serious about maintaining its role as a key power in Europe and NATO. But Starmer's failure to explain how and when he'll find billions of pounds of extra spending to pay for the new weapons and personnel has left him facing doubts about the U.K.'s commitment to follow through. The plans must also survive rising pressure from Labour lawmakers, who want to prioritize domestic issues blowing back on the left-leaning party at the ballot box, such as controversial benefit cuts. The U.K. government on Monday released a long-awaited blueprint to move the country's depleted military to a position of "war-fighting readiness.' Among other things, the Strategic Defense Review called for building as many as a dozen new attack submarines as part of the AUKUS partnership with Australia and the U.S., investing £15 billion ($20 billion) in nuclear warhead development and expanding domestic production of drones, munitions and long-range missiles. Still, Starmer has repeatedly sidestepped questions about when he'll firm up his "ambition' to expand defense spending to 3% of economic output in the next parliament, compared with 2.3% now and a planned 2.5% in two years' time. That risks undermining U.K. leadership on European security issues, with NATO leaders expecting to commit later this month at the Hague to an expenditure target of 3.5% to appease Trump's demands on the alliance. "The key question remains: what's the planned pathway from 2.5% in 2027 to 3% in 2034, itself short of a likely new NATO target?' said John Foreman, former U.K. defense attache to Moscow and Kyiv. "Without that, any plans are worthless.' Starmer is vying to reverse decades of decline in the British military as Whitehall policymakers directed resources toward health and social programs while enjoying the protection of the U.S. nuclear umbrella. The U.K.'s inability to credibly defend its interests at home and abroad led then-Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, a Conservative, to declare that the military had been "hollowed out' since the end of the Cold War. The last defense review — drafted under former Prime Minister Boris Johnson in 2021 — was more focused on force projection and naval power, with a shift toward the Indo-Pacific. Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and Trump's return to power upended those plans, forcing the U.K. to turn its attention to security concerns closer to home. Since taking power last year, Starmer has sought to put the U.K. at the heart of European security, helping forge a "coalition of the willing' of nations supporting Ukraine and striking a defense pact with Brussels. For the Labour leader, who opposed leaving the EU, it was a chance to reassert British leadership on the continent without relitigating Brexit. "The threat we now face is more serious, more immediate and more unpredictable than at any time since the Cold War,' Starmer told workers Monday at BAE Systems's Govan shipyard in Glasgow. "A new era in the threats we face demands a new era for defense and security, not just to survive in this new world, but to lead.' Yet military experts warned that the prime minister's lofty aims contrast with what he has been willing to commit to spending on defense, and look in danger of appearing out of pace when compared to commitments being made by other NATO members. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte is pushing for members to pledge to spend 3.5% of gross domestic product on core defense activities by 2032, with another 1.5% going toward adjacent projects such as cybersecurity and border control. That's an effort to assuage Trump, who has called on NATO countries to spend 5% of GDP — a goal the U.S. itself doesn't meet. Asked for a clearer statement about when his 3% spending goal would be met, the prime minister declined to give what he called an "arbitrary date,' insisting he would only set out plans for further spending once the economic and fiscal situation allowed. The lack of clarity prompted criticism from left and right, including the now-opposition Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. Starmer will be expected to provide answers to NATO leaders when he attends the organization's summit in the Netherlands. While the prime minister has so far avoided the sort of criticism that Trump has directed at other allies about their security commitments, it remains to be seen how the U.S. leader will respond to the U.K.'s spending plans. There was at least one potential boost for U.K.-U.S. relations in Monday's announcement: Britain indicated it would consider buying F-35A fighter jets capable of firing tactical nuclear weapons, made by Lockheed Martin Corp. The international context was laid out at a meeting of eastern European and Nordic leaders in Vilnius on Monday, where Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen suggested that NATO's target for 3.5% of core defense spending should be brought forward to sooner than 2032. Former Defense Secretary Grant Shapps similarly said Starmer should commit to spending 3% of GDP on defense by 2030 to ensure the U.K. maintains its position at the fore of NATO. "That figure isn't decorative — it's the entry ticket for modern kit, a resilient industrial base and credibility with our allies. Anything less is theater,' said Shapps, a Conservative who left office last year. "Moscow can spot the difference between a slogan and steel.' Starmer's backers argue that he has already proved his intent by lifting projected defense spending earlier this year, and accuse his Tory predecessors of handing him a poisoned inheritance including a threadbare military and overstretched public finances. Ultimately, Starmer has decided where government expenditure should be focused — choices that are in the spotlight again at next week's spending review. With the Labour government struggling for popularity less than a year into power, and Nigel Farage's right-wing Reform U.K. party surging in the polls, the party's lawmakers have already forced a reversal on a plan to cut cold weather payments for pensioners and are pushing for him to increase benefits for parents. Simultaneous calls from international allies to raise defense spending and from Labour lawmakers to raise welfare spending pose an obvious challenge for Starmer's under-pressure Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves. She may soon be forced to decided whether to bow to demands from within her party to loosen her fiscal rules or compromise on Labour's campaign pledges not to raise broad-based taxes. Paul Johnson, director of the Institute of Fiscal Studies think tank, told Times Radio that he expected "some really quite chunky tax increases.' That, Johnson said, is "the only choice that is available.'
South China Morning Post
3 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
How dependent is America's arsenal on China's critical mineral supply?
The US defence sector is dependent on critical minerals for its advanced weapon systems, but it has relied on China for most of those inputs. As Beijing tightens export restrictions, there is a growing risk to the Pentagon's military readiness and supply chain security. The big picture China dominates the global supply of rare earths , including controlling more than 90 per cent of the world's processing and refining. It also has an edge in most other critical minerals, such as refined gallium, of which it controls 98.8 per cent of the output. 05:00 US defence chief Pete Hegseth warns of 'imminent' China threat during Shangri-La Dialogue US defence chief Pete Hegseth warns of 'imminent' China threat during Shangri-La Dialogue A closer look In recent years, Beijing has leveraged its dominance in critical mineral production and refining as a key negotiating point in trade wars, as well as targeting defence industries in the US and its allies. In July 2023, Beijing imposed controls requiring exporters to seek permission to ship eight gallium-related and six germanium-related products abroad. The list was expanded to include antimony in August 2024. In December, the Chinese commerce ministry imposed export bans on gallium, germanium and antimony to the US, which affects American military end users. In April, Beijing imposed trade restrictions requiring a special export licence for seven categories of medium and heavy rare earth elements (REE) – samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium and yttrium – as well as magnets and other finished products that contain them to be shipped out of China. Why it matters
The Independent
28-05-2025
- Business
- The Independent
NATO set to commit to five percent defense spending goal amid threats from Trump
NATO Secretary General and former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has said that he believes that the alliance will commit to a new defense spending goal of five percent of GDP at its next summit in June. "I assume that in The Hague we will agree on a higher defense spending target of in total five percent," he said at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Dayton, Ohio, Politico noted. The expected measure comes after months of pressure from President Donald Trump. Earlier this year, the commander-in-chief warned that NATO allies would put American protection at risk if members did not increase their own military spending. Many allies rejected the notion at the time as mere political noise. But tensions in Europe 's relationship with Russia have increased, the discussion has shifted, with a greater focus on European military readiness. A rising number of leaders are backing the new goal, a significant jump from NATO's current two percent of GDP target. Dick Schoof said earlier this month that Rutte, his predecessor in the role as Dutch prime minister, wrote to NATO leaders arguing that they must reach 3.5 percent of GDP on 'hard military spending,' and 1.5 percent of GDP on spending connected to 'infrastructure, cybersecurity and other things.' Rutte's comments on Monday were the first time that the secretary general backed the five percent target. The boost would be substantial. No country currently spends 5 percent of their GDP. The U.S. spends about 3.5 percent. Rutte didn't specifically share the makeup of the five percent goal, but noted that the baseline for traditional military spending would be 'considerably north of 3 percent.' He added that further funding would be expected to go toward infrastructure and logistics. The most recent numbers from the alliance reveal that 23 of the 32 member states are on pace to be spending at least two percent by the summer. That's a significant increase since 2014, when the target was set following the initial Russian military activity against Ukraine. At that time, only three members were spending that much. Poland, the top spender in the alliance, spends about 4.7 percent of its GDP. Lithuania and Latvia have said they have plans to hit or go past five percent in the next two years.
