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Politics The future of European defence | strategy & industry |

Far from an army, but the EU activated the Rapid Deployment Capacity recently. 5.000 troops for different crisis scenarios:

The EU RDC is designed for a variety of missions, such as: stabilisation; rescue and evacuation; humanitarian assistance and disaster relief; peace enforcement; as well as conflict prevention and capacity building.
Click to expand...

armyrecognition.com

EU Declares its Rapid Reaction Force Operational for International Crisis Response

EU Declares its Rapid Reaction Force Operational for International Crisis Response
armyrecognition.com armyrecognition.com

www.eeas.europa.eu

Common Security and Defence Policy: EU Rapid Deployment Capacity becomes operational

The EU’s Rapid Deployment Capacity (EU RDC) is now operational. This marks a significant step in the EU’s ability to act quickly and decisively whenever a crisis erupts. The EU RDC provides a robust, flexible and scalable military instrument of up to 5,000 troops that can be deployed in a swift...
www.eeas.europa.eu www.eeas.europa.eu
 
Frankly, these initiatives are good for training interoperability, but nothing else.

There's a reason why the EUBGs were never activated. As long as individual nations do not agree to place these forces under a unified command and e.g. authorise the European Parliament to order a deployment, there'll always be some government with a caveat stepping on the brakes. Hungary and Slovakia, I'm looking at you!

I don't think there'll ever be a European army, nor that creating one is particularly desirable. I'd argue the right way forward is to encourage regional cooperations, like between the Dutch and Belgian navies or Dutch and German armies. It seems to make the most sense for neighbours with similar interests and comparable geography to pool their assets together.

It would also be a way to set up capabilities individual nations might struggle to finance. For example, I genuinely don't understand why Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia don't create a single unified air force with fast mover. They don't have the funds to do it individually; but even if they did, what good would three different air forces on such a small territory do? They'd need to work together and use each other's airspace anyway.
 
Having a unified EUBG isn't realistic for the time being.

Even if regional countries, such as the E-L-L previously mentioned, could agree on creating unified corps, it remains limited in scope from a European perspective.
I think it is all about incentives when it comes to borders, otherwise countries won't see the need to bother going the extra mile to do something they see as being useless to them.

Europe, as it is, and the EU, as it is, isn't unified. The so called unity is only insured by the European Parliament which is viewed and treated with very little respect; in fact one could say the only thing keeping the Union together is their disdain for the European Parliament and its people.
 
Mike1976 said:
Road construction and infrastructure during the Cold War was much more multi-purpose than it is today.

armyrecognition.com

Dutch F-35A Fighter Jets Land on Finnish Highway During Dispersed Warfare Exercise

Dutch F-35A Fighter Jets Land on Finnish Highway During Dispersed Warfare Exercise
armyrecognition.com armyrecognition.com
Click to expand...

Video of the same.

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This strip is so wide that you can pretty much land any plane there.
 
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Lots if not most of the European highways were thought and built with a number of purposes in mind that went beyond accommodating cars and trucks drivers.
 
PEMM said:
They were ready during cold war, so why not in 2025?

Some of this, like opposition to conscription, feels a bit like an excuse so you can leave the defense to someone else.
Click to expand...
You are underestimating the massive societal guilt because of two world wars and the engrained anti-militarism. During the Cold War resistance to conscription was widespread in West-Germany too.
 
Mike1976 said:
You are underestimating the massive societal guilt because of two world wars and the engrained anti-militarism. During the Cold War resistance to conscription was widespread in West-Germany too.
Click to expand...

But they still did it.

And they have to get over the guilt at some point; children, let alone grandchildren, are not responsible for their parents actions. Responsible people and victims are all now dead and buried.

But it's true that it's difficult to understand this kind of societal self beating from the outside. But we have to keep cheering Germany on to get over it.
 
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PEMM said:
But they still did it.

And they have to get over the guilt at some point; children, let alone grandchildren, are not responsible for their parents actions. Responsible people and victims are all now dead and buried.

But it's true that it's difficult to understand this kind of societal self beating from the outside. But we have to keep cheering Germany on to get over it.
Click to expand...

We may be not responsible for our grandparents actions but we are responsible for sth like that to never happen again. That’s something I truly believe but at the same time we may not be paralyzed by that because it’s not the only responsibility.

There are many different things going on in our world right now and with our capabilities, may it be financial or political influence or hell even military capabilities, it is just wrong to chicken out as soon as it gets controversial…(or uncomfortable on a personal base)
 
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