Brent Scowcroft Center Deputy Director Magnus Nordenman and US Navy Senior Fellow Steven Horrell write for Defense One on why the United States and NATO need a new strategy for the maritime domains around Europe:
The U.S. and its NATO allies need a new strategy for the maritime domains in and around Europe, which are contested and congested in ways that were almost unthinkable a few years ago. Fortunately, there is a good model available: the Defense Department’s new Asia Pacific Maritime Security Strategy.
One spur is Russia, whose recent assertiveness againstU.S. friends, allies, and partners in Europe has been expressed on, above, and under the sea. In the Barents Sea, the Russian Navy is modernizing its fleets of attack and ballistic missile submarines. In the Baltic and Black Seas, Moscow is operating aircraft and ships at an increasing pace and arraying a robust anti-access/area denial capability. Russia also recently revised its own maritime strategy to emphasize not just its Arctic ambitions, but access to and the ability to operate in the Atlantic.