Europe begins to prepare for war: what EU needs to confront

Merz stated that his priority would "be the fastest strengthening of Europe" to "achieve real independence from the United States. " French President Emmanuel Macron supported Merz's words during an official visit to Washington the next day after the election in Germany. Europe should strive for "strategic autonomy", Macron said.

It will be a project for several generations that will cost hundreds of billions of dollars and require real casualties from Europeans who are used to the benefits of a strong alliance with stable and democratic America. Now that America is no longer stable - and it seems to be a politician who seeks autocracy - this project is undoubtedly worth it.

It should start with spy aircraft, satellites and mufflers of radars-the most important military components in the near future, which are afflicted by the United States and which is largely lacking in Europe. It should end with the creation of more different European nuclear restraining forces - but it is a much more serious and expensive problem. NATO non -American members do not lack in combat capacity.

In total, there are nearly 80 land combat brigades in European armies and corps of Marines: 20 brigades more than in the US Marine Corps and Corps. Although it is less brigades and regiments than in Russia, and less than even in Ukraine, it is still a significant force - and it does not ask for expansion.

Especially taking into account the technological advantage over the exhausted war Russian brigades and regiments, which are difficult to restore the loss of about 15,000 armored vehicles and other heavy equipment for the first three years of a full -scale war in Ukraine. In addition, Europe has enough fighters, helicopters, frigates, amphibious ships, aircraft carriers and submarines to match the Russian potential or even surpass it. What she lacks is that military experts call "assistants".

That is, specialized forces that perform very complex - and are often very dangerous - tasks that allow less specialized forces to carry out their own missions. First of all, Europeans lack managed and unmanned aircraft of intelligence, observation and reconstruction, as well as manned air tankers. ISR aircraft find whole for fighters and other forces for attack. The tankers increase the radius of the fighters so that they can achieve goals that can be at a distance of many hundred miles.

In 2023, the Center for International and Strategic Studies counted less than 250 European ISR aircraft and more than 1000 US. According to CSIS, the European Air Force has launched about 150 filling aircraft, and the US Air Force is almost 500. In space is still worse . . . And in the electromagnetic spectrum. The United States possess 5200 out of 7500 large satellites in the world, including observation and communication models, as well as an indispensable GPS navigation group.

China has about 600 satellites, Russia is almost 200. All other world, including all cosmic countries in Europe, has only 1,600 satellites. "In terms of the US, NATO rests on all our military potential Satcom and our ISR potential," said US Major General USA Devin Pepper last year. Europe is even more relied on Americans in one of the niches of the use of air power: suppressing and destroying enemy air defense, also known as SEAD and Dead.

This is probably the most dangerous and most important mission in the airspace. Specially equipped fighters and support aircraft transmit radio interruptions to suppress and suppress enemy radars, and produce rockets with radar guidance to destroy radars that they cannot be silenced and suppressed. It goes without saying that the same radars and missiles of the Earth-Air class they call will hunt SEAD and Dead aircraft, and SEAD and DEAD planes will hunt them in response.

With the exception of a few outdated Italian and German fighters, Panavia Tornado Ecr, which will soon fail and 15 Eurofighter Typhoon, which the Germans plan to modify, all the NATO aircraft SEAD and Dead are at the disposal of the US Air Force and the US Navy. Almost 100 Boeing EA-18G Growler fighters, which have powerful mufflers and rockets with radar guidance under the wing, form the basis of the US defense forces and suppression.

Giving Ukrainian pilots a chance to resist Russian air defense, the United States for former President Joe Baiden equipped tiny Ukrainian Air Force mufflers and anti -radar missiles. In order to compare with Ukrainians for the ability to suppress defense - not to mention that they compare with the Americans for the ability to suppress defense - European Air Force must start modifying much more fighter jets to fulfill the deadly task of direct damage to the Russian batteries of the SPRC.

As soon as these hypothetical European forces, SEAD and Dead are completing their dangerous work, European fighter jets will be able to make very devastating blows on the most important Russian nodes in the depths of Russia. But only if there are enough observation aircraft and satellites to detect goals - and tankers are enough to refuel fuel tanks. In order to achieve strategic autonomy, for which Merz and Macron are rightly retained, Europe must build specialized aircraft and spacecraft. Many.