Countering A2/AD: The European Perspective
A2/AD has emerged as a major concern and as a shaping concept in the US defense debate over the past decade. However, A2/AD has only recently started to be discussed within NATO, even though A2/AD should also be a European concern. European countries such as France and the UK have been expeditionary powers for decades and have relied on force projection multiple times to protect their security interests overseas. Beyond those two countries, European security is - and will continue to be - increasingly threatened by Russian investments in A2/AD capabilities and by the diffusion of such capabilities - sold by Russia, China, or by regional providers - in the European neighborhood. While the US military has identified the need to counter A2/AD as a key priority, what can Europeans do to tackle that challenge? A European approach to countering A2/AD might differ from the US approach for a number of reasons. Perhaps due to the fact that the perception of A2/AD as a threat is still far from clear among Europeans, the latter face a number of political, strategic, and capability challenges to respond to that threat.
About this Lecture
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