The advent of the NATO response force and its potential effect on the United States Air Force

Abstract

The advent of the NATO Response Force (NRF) is the result of the call for NATO to create a warfighting capability to meet the security threats of the 21st Century. The NRF is a joint force comprised of air, land and maritime assets designed to conduct operations across the full spectrum of conflict. Missions include opposed entry scenarios, counter-terrorism, crisis response and peace enforcement, embargo operations, interdiction, and human relief and non-combatant evacuations, meeting the need called for in the U.S. National Security Strategy as well as the European Union Security Strategy. The NRF will also serve as a catalyst for transformation, encouraging European nations to downsize and retool their legacy forces in order to participate in the NRF. Political influences and operational constraints threaten to limit the NRF. The tangible effect the NRF will have on the Air Force will be its disproportionate need for Air Force assets to meet its required operational mandate. The result of the EU's inability to readily address their capability shortfalls will be the NRF's dependence upon Air Force to provide strategic airlift, air refueling, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), and the procurement and use of Precision Guided Munitions (PGMs) for the foreseeable future.