- Defence ministers for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania met in Tallinn to pursue the creation of a Military Mobility Area on Nato’s Eastern Flank
- This model will allow the flow of military assets across borders, unrestircted by bureaucratic niceities
- But there is a loftier goal in mind: to expand the Area to the rest of Europe, which will prove challenging as military mobility remains deficient despite EU and Nato ambitions
Baltic defence leaders gathered in Tallinn at the end of January to discuss the security of Nato’s Eastern Flank, with a major part of the proceedings reaching agreement on the creation of a Military Mobility Area (MMA) spanning the three countries.
The MMA will see the military capabilities of one nation flow unrestricted among the territories of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The concept will allow for consolidation of resources to areas with the greatest need for security.
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“If necessary, Lithuania’s military assets will be able to move freely towards Riga, Estonia’s artillery will support Vilnius, Latvian capabilities will back up Tallinn, and vice versa,” clarified Robertas Kaunas, Lithuania’s Minister of National Defence.
Despite Russian resources and manpower being sustainably expended in its war in Ukraine, the Baltic States also pose a major vulnerability to Russian strategic ambitions in a prospective conflict with Nato, which defence experts anticipate in the coming years.
If Russia engages the Baltic States, it would perceive them as a single adversary, and their strategy would reflect this as they seek to cut them off from Nato allies via the Suwalki Gap and at sea. For this reason, Baltic military capabilities ought to muster a unified and agile response, and the creation of an MMA removes the bureaucratic niceties that impede a collective force posture.
“Every hour is critical in a crisis, we cannot let the walls of bureaucracy undercut our defence,” Kaunas discerned.
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By GlobalDataMilitary Schengen zone
The trio also alluded to the possibility of extending this military corridor to the rest of Europe to form what has been called a “military Schengen” zone.
This model is already being pursued to integrate the Continental and Nordic corridors but to little effect. While the endeavour is achievable among the three Baltic States, since it is an existential issue, it will prove far more difficult across continental Europe.
A large problem comes down to differences in technical infrastructure specifications. For example, there is only one road that connects Poland and Lithuania and their railway gauges are different, which has led to lengthy transport delays. About a year ago, the European Court of Auditors famously remarked that “tanks from one EU country cannot move through another if they are heavier than road traffic regulations allow.”
There is more besides; the EU has identified 500 priority “hotspot [infrastructure] projects” that need attention.
Still, it is hoped that recent EU protocols will help to remedy the problem, which stems from years of complacency. The €150bn Security Action for Europe (SAFE) loan instrument will help member states finance the implementation of these costly infrastructure standards.
Notably, there is more to military mobility than land transportation, as the European Investment Bank listed strategic lift capabilities alongside reinforcing bridges and upgrading railways. Likewise, a leading airpower specialist at the Royal United Services Institute in London, Justin Bronk, reminded Airforce Technology in October last year that “Europe is covered in tarmac” to enable mobility, a logistical legacy of the Second World War.
