The Bedrock of Defence: NATO Article 3, Maritime Resilience and the Home Front

The Bedrock of Defence: NATO Article 3, Maritime Resilience and the Home Front

24 Sep 26
Posted by: RAdm Tim Henry
16 minutes, 45 seconds read
Message from the Editor

If a cyber-attack paralyses a dockyard or a disrupted supply chain prevents a critical repair, the resulting loss of fleet availability constitutes a military defeat achieved by civilian means. The era of the homeland as a sanctuary is over. This article, by the NR’s Chairman, challenges the unhurried pace of current government resilience planning, arguing that the Royal Navy must adopt a National Support Base mindset and apply the same rigorous, FOST-style testing to its civilian dependencies as to its warships. A 20 minute read.

The strategic reality facing the United Kingdom and its European allies is stark. We have entered an era of persistent confrontation, in which conventional military threats, cyberattacks, sabotage, economic coercion and information warfare increasingly converge. The post-Cold War peace dividend is over, and much of its accumulated capital has already been consumed. At the same time, Europe can no longer base its security on the assumption of unlimited American capacity or of an enduring willingness in Washington to shoulder a disproportionate share of the burden. A stronger European contributi…

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