NATO Dusts Off a Cold War Skill: Moving Troops by Daniel Michaels – Wall Street Journal
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday that all forces are in place.
President Trump has repeatedly browbeaten NATO’s European members for not spending enough on defense. A more immediate problem is that Europeans struggle to move equipment they already have.
Logistics capabilities that were second nature during the Cold War have deteriorated. Mobility impediments include narrow rail and road tunnels, varying gauges of rail track and legal restrictions on shipping ammunition across borders. Many European road- and rail-bridges are too low for hulking military vehicles to drive under or too weak to support a convoy of 100-ton battle tanks, officials say.
The mobility drive parallels the alliance’s effort to rebuild its arsenals, prompted by Russia’s seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Military spending by NATO’s European members has risen 14% in constant dollars since hitting a post-Cold War low around 2014…