As the war between Russia and Ukraine has been fought since February 2022, creating a threat to Europe's security, NATO's top general, Christopher Cavoli, called on Thursday to increase military production and weapons to defend against aggression.
In an interview with AFP, Cavoli stated that the military alliance is ready to defend itself.
Today, the Allied powers marked 80 years since the American-led World War II coalition landed on D-Day to liberate France from Nazi occupation.
Currently, Supreme Allied Commander Europe Cavoli has been paying close attention to the Russian special military operation against Ukraine and Moscow's potential threat to NATO countries.
The top general said in Normandy: “NATO is ready to carry out collective territorial defense.”
He pointed to a vast exercise called Steadfast Defender 24, which involved 90,000 NATO troops in several European countries from January to May.
“We have completely changed our focus in recent years. We used to conduct out-of-area operations, now we concentrate on defending alliance territory,” Cavoli said.
“But when it comes to military equipment… we need to build more, we need to expand our industrial base,” he added.
Russia's special military operation against Ukraine and the Western-backed defenses of kyiv have demonstrated the great appetite of modern conflicts for ammunition and other related equipment.
However, it has taken time for defense manufacturers to ramp up production of items ranging from artillery shells to vehicles and drones.
“We need to build hardware more quickly. I think all the nations in the alliance realize that and are working on it,” Cavoli said.
Studying the war between Russia and Ukraine
He joked that “if you ever want to feel a little pressure, take a job that Dwight D. Eisenhower had,” referring to the World War II commander and later president of the United States, who was the first to hold the position he Cavoli took over in 2022. .
Faced with a new generation war, the general added that the 32-member alliance “is going to make a very deliberate effort to study everything related to war.” [Russia-Ukraine] conflict so that we can develop from it.
He cited “innovative uses of hardware,” such as low-cost drones used by both sides for reconnaissance and attack.
NATO troops would also learn “techniques and tactics” used on Ukrainian battlefields at a new “lessons learned” center to be established in Poland, Cavoli added.
Speaking at the cemetery for Americans killed in the D-Day landings and subsequent fighting in Normandy 80 years ago, Cavoli said, “These cemeteries all over Europe, all over the world, are very inspiring to us.
“They remind me of my own soldiers that I have lost,” he added.
Beyond producing more weaponry, “there's a difference between having the equipment and actually being able to use it effectively… it's our soldiers, our airmen, our marines, our sailors who are the real experts.
“Professionalism is what gives us an advantage,” Cavoli said.
France's enduring memory of liberation from Nazi occupation was on display throughout the landing zone, with many homes along the roads to the cemetery flying flags of the United States and other Allied nations.
The cemetery and the warm local welcome to American troops are “just a living example of the friendship between the United States and France and also the way in which an alliance comes together and not only fights a war but stays together after a war “Cavoli said.
