‘Reinforcing NATO’s Deterrence and Defence Posture: Military-Strategic Perspective’

The Baltic Military Conference 2023 was dedicated to the NATO Summit to be held in Vilnius in 2023 and brought together senior policymakers, military officers, and defence experts to discuss the military strategic developments within the Alliance, implementation of the decisions on the Alliance’s deterrence and defence posture taken during the NATO Summit in Madrid and further steps needed to increase the readiness of its force posture in order to address the threats and challenges in a changed security environment. The Baltic Military Conference provided unique platform for debate with leading experts on military strategic issues, and eminent speakers, such as Dr Mark T. Esper, Former Secretary of Defense, U.S., Prime Minister of Lithuania Ingrida Šimonytė and Admiral Rob Bauer, Chair of the Military Committee of NATO made their remarks. Night Owl session ‘Lessons Learnt from Russia’s War in Ukraine’ focused on the military lessons learnt from Russia’s war in Ukraine: the use of modern weapon systems and technology, resilience and resistance, digital leadership during a modern warfare, military assistance to Ukraine.

Session 1 ‘Implementation of NATO’s defence and deterrence policy: NATO’s military presence in the Baltic Sea region’ discussed NATO’s adaptation towards a forward defence posture: where NATO stands with the implementation of forward defence, what is needed to facilitate readiness and rapid deployment of forces, how NATO should further strengthen its posture in land, at sea and in the air domain to deny its territory to any aggression.

Atlantic Council session ‘After One Year: Views from Washington on support for Ukraine and US Force Posture in Europe’ highlighted pledge by US President Joe Biden in a dramatic visit to Kyiv that the United States will stand with Ukraine “for as long as it takes” and continual reaffirmation to “defend every single inch of NATO territory” against Russia. However, as rising inflation, other economic disruptions, war fatigue, domestic populism, and competing global threats manifest, there are concerns about the durability of the US commitment to Ukraine and Europe. Any shift in Washington’s thinking could have significant repercussions for US force posture in Europe, recently reinforced, and European deterrence more broadly.

Session 3 ‘NATO’s adaptation to the changing character of war: the multi-domain challenge for the military component’ discussed the challenges that the changing character of war poses to NATO’s military-strategic thinking and planning: how the use and organisation of Allied forces and capabilities in all operational domains should be improved, how NATO should enhance the collective readiness, responsiveness, deployability and interoperability of Allied forces and capabilities to ensure credible deterrence and defence.