Europe unprepared for return of mass warfare, former Ukrainian defense minister says
Contemporary European armies have developed in an age of precision munitions and expeditionary warfare and are therefore struggling to adapt to the threat of large-scale war, Andriy Zagorodnyuk, Ukraine’s defense minister from 2019 to 2020, told NV on Oct. 7.
Former Ukraine defense minister Andriy Zagorodnyuk asserts Europe is not prepared for a resurgence of mass warfare. Zagorodnyuk, who led Ukraine's defense ministry from 2019 to 2020, attributes this lack of readiness to the shift from large-scale conventional warfare to precision weapons and drone technology. He explains that during the late 1980s and early 1990s, precision weapons, including GPS-guided and laser-controlled systems, underwent a revolution.
The Gulf War, which saw a U.S.-led coalition defeat Iraq's army of over a million troops using such precision weaponry, marked a significant turning point, leading to smaller, more specialized militaries that were highly trained but expensive and technologically advanced. Zagorodnyuk argues that the assumption of Europe's safety from war, fostered by its investment in precision weaponry and reliance on NATO, contributed to a decades-long neglect of military budget increases.
Now, a new military paradigm is emerging, termed "affordable precision mass," where large numbers of weapons are deployed in a mission, with the expectation that even a small percentage reaching their targets can achieve success. This shift, he warns, renders Europe's existing air defense systems and security structures obsolete, as they were not designed to anticipate such changes.
In personnel, budget allocation, and technological readiness, Europe finds itself at the forefront of these revolutionary developments, ill-equipped to respond effectively.
Written by urgent.news from New Voice of Ukraine's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
