Days after NATO allies committed tens of billions of dollars to new air and missile defenses, the alliance’s top transformation commander warned that the West must fundamentally redesign its weapons and industrial base to withstand attacks at the scale now being demonstrated in Ukraine and the Middle East."Today, the math is not in favor of the West," Adm.Pierre Vandier, NATO’s supreme allied commander for transformation, told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview following the alliance’s summit in Ankara, Turkey, in early July.A U.S.-made MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile is launched during a live-fire exercise at the Chiupeng missile base in Pingtung County on Aug.
20, 2024, Adm.Pierre Vandier ( )The summit produced commitments to acquire 900 Patriot missiles and invest more than $40 billion in counter-drone capabilities throughout five years. But Vandier argued that simply buying more of the West’s existing weapons will not solve the underlying problem.TRUMP ENTERS FINAL NATO SUMMIT DAY AS UKRAINE, DEFENSE SPENDING TAKE CENTER STAGERussia’s nightly barrages against Ukraine have exposed an air-defense model designed for smaller numbers of incoming threats.
The U.S.-Iran conflict has simultaneously intensified demand for the high-end interceptors needed to defeat ballistic missiles, including Patriots and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) that cannot quickly be replaced."There is no way to produce 50,000 Patriots a year," Vandier said."We don’t have the supply chain, and it’s not worth doing that given the cost of the weapon."Instead, Vandier said NATO needs a layered mix of defenses: cheaper weapons that can be mass-produced to counter waves of drones, while preserving advanced interceptors for ballistic missiles and other sophisticated threats.A U.S.-made MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile is launched during a live-fire exercise at the Chiupeng missile base in Pingtung County Aug.
20, 2024.(Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images)...