Building a Strategy for Alliance Land- Power
by LTC Tim Kreuttner ( USA ) LANDCOM G-5
The Alliance ’ s Strategic Concept describes the over-arching strategy for NATO via three core tasks : Collective Defence , Crisis Management , and Cooperative Security 1 . The Strategic Concept concisely articulates what the Alliance should achieve . Subsequent to publication of the strategy , the Alliance has developed domain-specific “ strategies ” to add detail for maritime and air-power . In keeping with this theme , LANCOM has embarked on an effort to lead development of a Strategy for Alliance Land-Power to provide a framework for Allied land operations and activities . In doing so , LAND- COM must consider current and anticipated future challenges to the Alliance in the land domain while building a coherent and enduring concept that articulates employment of land forces inclusive of the NATO Force Structure ( NFS ), national land forces , and partner integration and interactions . This effort is particularly relevant in the current environment where a myriad of evolving strategic challenges stress Alliance security including renewed Russian assertiveness , terrorism and insurgency by radical groups , and mass migration . 2
A strategy for Alliance land power should describe the ends , ways , means , and risk associated with the contribution of ready and responsive land power to Alliance objectives 3 . Strategy , at the highest levels , or “ Grand Strategy ,” is “ the direction and use made of any or all among the total assets of a security community in support of its policy goals ;” also stated as the use of all elements of national – or in this case , Alliance – power to achieve policy aims 4 . NATO defines military strategy as “ that component of national or multinational strategy , presenting the manner in which military power should be developed and applied to achieve national objectives or those of a group of nations . 5 ” Note that “ strategy ” should not be confused with the “ strategic level ” as NATO defines it : “ The level at which a nation or group of nations determines national or multinational security objectives and deploys national , including military , resources to achieve them 6 .” Strategy formulation is done primarily in the Bi-Strategic Commands and above in the NATO political-military structure , but is implemented at all levels . With this in mind , LANDCOM , as the proponent for the land domain , will contribute to the development of land strategy .
It may seem odd that NATO would develop a domain-specific “ strategy .” Theoretically , there need only be one over-arching strategy to describe how NATO intends to employ military power to achieve Alliance objectives . But the world is complicated , and use of military power is nuanced . While the Alliance ’ s Strategic Concept is a concise framework , it does not address domain-specific challenges . A Strategy for
Alliance Land Power will serve not just to balance attention among the other domains which already have published strategies , but more clearly articulate a common vision for land-power in an evolving environment .
The necessary first question to answer in formulating a strategy is to determine objective . Considering the three core tasks and the challenges NATO faces now and in the foreseeable future , a good place to start is with the purpose of the Alliance as a whole :
“ NATO ’ s fundamental and enduring purpose is to safeguard the freedom and security of all its members by political and military means . 7 ”
In addition to the above statement , there must be consideration of how NATO has increasingly integrated partners – within both formal and informal frameworks – into Alliance operations , training , and exercises . Ready and responsive land-power is the cornerstone of Alliance military strength . Land forces are essential to the Alliance ’ s ability to deter adversaries , contain threats , protect sovereign territory and populations , and project stability to partners beyond Alliance borders to address problems at their source , preferably before they devolve into intractable conflict . An attempt to encapsulate the objective of Alliance land-power is with the following statement :
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