Read, Watch or Listen

ANKARA, Turkey – Speaking after a NATO summit in Ankara in early July, NATO Supreme Allied Commander Transformation Adm. Pierre Vandier warned that current Western air and missile defense models are inadequate for the large-scale barrages now seen in Ukraine and the Middle East. He said that despite allies committing to acquire 900 Patriot missiles and to invest more than $40 billion in counter-drone capabilities over five years, “the math is not in favor of the West” because existing systems were built for far fewer incoming threats. Russia’s nightly strikes on Ukraine and the U.S. confrontation with Iran have sharply increased demand for advanced interceptors such as Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), which he noted cannot be produced in the necessary quantities given present supply chains and costs. TURKEY – Vandier argued that simply buying more of today’s high-end missiles will not resolve the underlying vulnerability, because Western weapons were designed around an industrial base that no longer exists and must now be fundamentally redesigned for mass production. He called for a layered mix of defenses that combines low-cost, “attritable,” mass-produced weapons to defeat waves of drones with more “exquisite” interceptors reserved for ballistic and other sophisticated missiles. He said Ukraine’s fast-evolving defense industry is already driving the pace of innovation for European and Western manufacturers and warned that, following the collapse of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, both Russia and NATO face a renewed race to develop long-range missiles, creating what he described as a period of “complete strategic instability.”

Prepared by Emily Rhodes and reviewed by editorial team.