NATO is not prepared for war

"For decades, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) prepared for war, confident in its advantage over any adversary. Its member states invested heavily in state-of-the-art weapons. Stealth aircraft, precision weaponry, secretive submarines and city-sized aircraft carriers stood as the guardians of the West. This power appeared unshakable until recently. On September 10, during another massive Russian aerial attack on Ukraine, more than 20 Russian drones crossed into neighbouring Poland."

"The NATO member had to scramble multimillion-euro military equipment F-16 and F-35 fighter jets, military helicopters and Patriot surface-to-air missile systems in order to shoot down potential threats. Several drones were shot down, including three Shaheds and several cheaply made foam dummies. That interception operation was not only costly, but it also busted the myth of Western military might. Trillions of dollars in investment in the military industrial complex could not protect NATO borders from two dozen inexpensive drones."

Expensive Western weaponry proved vulnerable when multimillion-euro fighter jets and missile systems were scrambled to intercept cheap drones. NATO members had long invested in stealth aircraft, precision weapons, submarines and aircraft carriers, projecting overwhelming conventional superiority. On September 10 more than 20 Russian drones crossed into Poland, forcing the use of F-16s, F-35s, helicopters and Patriot systems to destroy Shaheds and foam decoys. Subsequent drone sightings disrupted airports in Norway, Denmark and Germany and appeared near a Belgian military base, inflicting economic costs and undermining public safety along the EU's eastern border. Collective defence responses under Article 5 face uncertainty against low-cost aerial threats.

Read at www.aljazeera.com