U.S. Media: NATO Intends to Strengthen Deep Strike Capability Against Russia

According to a report by Reference News Network on November 7, the Wall Street Journal reported on November 4 that the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East are forcing NATO to rethink how to counter Russia, including implementing deep strikes within Russian territory.

Senior military officers and officials from NATO member countries gathered in June for the alliance's first-ever "Deep Strike Seminar," addressing a topic that had been rarely discussed publicly until recently. The meeting was chaired by NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Christopher Cavoli.

For decades, the core idea of protecting NATO's territory in Europe has been akin to setting up military barriers. However, after nearly five years of the war in Ukraine, NATO strategists say that if Russia launches an offensive, merely delaying the advance of Russian forces will not be sufficient to defeat them.

Today, to deter the Kremlin's conventional military power, a more proactive approach is needed, referred to in military terms as "denial." This means not only striking forces that may cross the border but also targeting military bases, supply depots, and industrial facilities deep behind the front lines and within Russia itself.

At the core of this plan are highly precise deep strike weapons, including both high-end and low-cost equipment. The United States has recently been upgrading and expanding its precision deep strike missile systems, including Tomahawk cruise missiles and the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), while also developing new systems. European allies, which had previously lagged behind, are now accelerating the deployment of new weapons and bolstering their relatively small stocks of Storm Shadow cruise missiles and Taurus missiles.

According to Fabian Hoffmann, a senior researcher at the Norwegian Institute for Defense Studies, at least 48 new low-cost cruise missile projects have been announced across Europe, involving 20 manufacturers. When these projects will deliver weapons remains uncertain.

The definition of "deep" varies from about 100 miles (1 mile is approximately 1.6 kilometers) to several hundred miles, but generally refers to targets far behind the front lines.

In combat, long-range missiles, rockets, and drones would be used to precisely strike traditional military targets at great distances, such as remote airfields or army bases. The strike range would also include Russia's industrial facilities, critical infrastructure, and resource bases, which are thousands of miles from NATO's borders.

This approach is often described as not "blocking the arrow," but rather striking the archer, which is precisely what Ukraine has been doing in its operations against Russia. Kyiv has been using increasingly powerful weapons, including domestically developed "Flamingo" missiles, to target military and economic objectives within Russia, such as rocket fuel manufacturers, drone battery factories, refineries, and data centers.

Meanwhile, Russia has conducted far more long-range strikes against Ukraine, targeting both strategic objectives with precision and broadly destroying civilian assets. Ukraine's ambassador to NATO, Alena Getmanchuk, stated that the Western-supplied interceptors used for self-defense are already in short supply, leading to an increasing reliance on deep strike "active defense" to counter Russia.

Polish Army Major General Irenusz Nowak said in an interview that a key lesson from the Ukraine war for NATO is that "defense also means counterattack," with precision deep strikes being a crucial component. He stated that if Ukraine had possessed this capability early in the war, the conflict would not have "developed into trench warfare like World War I."

Although NATO military leaders have now accepted "denial" as a principle of warfare, many strategists remain skeptical about whether European politicians can accept responding to potential Russian offensives with deep strikes.

Nico Lange, former head of the German Defense Ministry's Office, said, "There is a disconnect between reasonable military planning to defend against Russia and the thoughts of political decision-makers, the former clearly includes offensive components, while the latter believes defense is just about building a wall or preparing a wall of drones."

NATO commanders say that to prepare for conflict and hope to prevent it, they must rapidly expand their deep strike arsenal.

Nowak stated, "The message that needs to be conveyed is: don't do anything stupid, because we can punish you." He also said, "But to make this statement credible, we must possess these capabilities."