Report

Rebalancing European joint fires to deter Russia

This report from UK think tank RUSI considers the role of land-air integration in achieving the suppression and destruction of enemy air defences.

NATO land forces are overwhelmingly dependent on air power for fires.

Without large-scale US assistance, however, European air forces would currently struggle to roll back dense and integrated air defence systems (IADS) such as those protecting Russian forces. Accelerating the degradation of the Russian IADS in any conflict is therefore critical to enabling the defeat of Russian ground forces.

This is increasingly a joint task, and therefore this paper considers the issues of land-air integration in achieving the suppression and destruction of enemy (Russian) air defences (SEAD/DEAD).