NATO’s Strength: A Burden-sharing Success Story
In an era when NATO gets slammed on a regular basis by President Trump, there's one key alliance success -- the ability of 29 countries to work together on the battlefield.
By Murielle Delaporte on March 20, 2019 at 9:12 AM
At a time of transatlantic fingerpointing and GDP defense spending percentage comparisons, it is soothing to focus on some of the bricks that have cemented NATO allies over the last 70 years.
One key alliance success – if not THE success – has been the development of interoperability among some 30 29 countries (Macedonia is almost a member…). There is one area where interoperability has thrived from the outset, fuel. The reason is rooted in the nature of the required standardizations and certifications stemming from both international civilian and military bodies.
It turns out that, even though every military in the world needs refueling for air, ground and sea assets, very few among NATO allies have developed a fully autonomous capability ranging from the ability to project sufficient equipment to manage the resource – i.e. fuel and petroleum products – on a potentially disrupted theater.
https://breakingdefense.com/2019/03/natos-strength-a-burden-sharing-success-story/
