A view of the flags of The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries in Brussels, Belgium on April 03, 2023. Photo: Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency
NATO has unveiled two new multinational initiatives aimed at boosting the protection of its airspace and enhancing its deterrence and defence capabilities.
At a signing ceremony held at NATO Headquarters, 15 Allies committed to developing more efficient solutions to lower-level air threats – that is, threats flying below 500 feet/150 meters, which is less than half the height of the Eiffel Tower, said a statement from the Alliance, News.Az reports.
In addition, the same 15 Allies (Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Türkiye and the United Kingdom), plus Czechia, launched a multinational initiative on passive air surveillance, such as noise detection, which is essential to identify incoming threats undetectable by active air surveillance capabilities such as radars and satellites.
“The war in Ukraine has shown how effective and dangerous technologies such as small drones can play in conflict. Increasing NATO’s ability to detect, identify, track and respond to these new threats while exploiting technological advances for enhanced deterrence and defense is essential to the Alliance,” the statement said.
At the ceremony, Allies also welcomed new members to existing projects. Romania joined Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Spain and the United Kingdom in the Modular Solution for Ground Based Air Defense Capabilities (Modular GBAD). Launched in 2023, the project aims at developing a modular solution to counter air threats at very short, short and medium range.
Portugal and Türkiye joined the Multinational Ammunition Warehousing Initiative (MAWI), which seeks to reinforce and streamline the prepositioning and management of ammunition stockpiles. Established in 2021, the initiative now counts participation from 26 Allies (Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Türkiye and the United Kingdom), and the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA).