Alliance Ground Surveillance and the future of NATO's smart defense
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Authors
Nelson, Jack A.
Subjects
NATO
Alliance Ground Surveillance
AGS
Smart Defense
Global Hawk
Alliance Ground Surveillance
AGS
Smart Defense
Global Hawk
Advisors
Yost, David S.
Date of Issue
2014-03
Date
Mar-14
Publisher
Monterey, California: Naval Postgraduate School
Language
Abstract
Twenty-three years after its inception in 1991, NATO's Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) program is nearly an operational reality. Though AGS is a significant accomplishment, the political, economic, and strategic concerns of individual Allies have tempered the pursuit of a more robust acquisition. AGS will provide an important capability advance for the Alliance, but it obviously cannot overcome all the systemic capability shortcomings that the Alliance's Smart Defense (SD) initiative hopes to address. Given NATO's struggles with AGS, its label as a flagship SD program may be undeserved'or illustrative of the challenges facing SD. While AGS appears to mirror the NATO AWACS acquisition, neither provides an ideal template for further SD programs. Instead, the successes and failures of AGS suggest an evolution in joint Alliance procurements. While focusing on efficiencies'a traditional SD ideal that is insufficient in isolation'AGS reinforces a more important principle in the Alliance: sustaining NATO's political cohesion.
Type
Thesis
Description
Series/Report No
Department
National Security Affairs
Organization
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NPS Report Number
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Citation
Distribution Statement
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.