PRESS

and AGS programs should be considered the norm for
the future. Pooling resources to share airlift or tankers
with organizational construct like the HAW in Hungary
could be essential to the future success of non-
U.S. NATO air power.
During the U.S. Air Force Association’s September
2011 conference, French Air Force General Stéphane
Abrial, former NATO supreme allied commander for
transformation, said that non-U.S. NATO air forces
“could not have performed to the same level of effectiveness
without heavy contribution from the U.S.”
and would be severely limited if the United States
chose not to join a foreign operation such as the one
conducted in Libya. 44
Although it is doubtful that NATO would ever
participate in a major conflict without significant U.S.
contributions, the fact is that in the 1990s, the U.S. Air
Force presence in Europe was much larger than it is
today. Numbers do count in any conflict. Non-U.S.
NATO nations must maintain their current air force
capabilities while procuring more advanced capabilities,
such as the A-330 MRTT, A-400M, and JSF. They
must also procure enough advanced standoff munitions
for any projected conflict.
During fierce internal budget battles, vocal ministers
of defense will be key to NATO’s goal of each
nation spending 2 percent of its GDP on defense. Certainly,
recent Russian aggression in Ukraine and the
brutality of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria should
provide a wake-up call to NATO’s national capitals.
The climate could be the necessary impetus to spend
more on defense and, in turn, commit forces to future
NATO endeavors.
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