By Hai Ning

海宁

Polish soldiers participate in NATO's Integrated Air and Missile Defense exercise in mid-June, 

2024.6月中旬，波兰士兵参加北约综合空中和导弹防御演习。

A ceremony was held on July 1stby NATO in Solbiate Olona, Province of Varese, Italy to officially launch a new fast response force, the Allied Reaction Force (ARF).

7月1日，北约在意大利瓦雷泽省的索尔比亚泰奥洛纳举行仪式，启动一支新的快速反应部队“盟军反应部队”。

Upgraded force 

部队版本升级迭代

Building fast response forces is nothing new. NATO, ever since its establishment, has made repeated attempts to build and improve its fast response force to cope with so-called military threats.

构建快速反应部队（简称快反部队）并非新课题。北约自成立之日起，就一再试图建立和完善快速反应力量，以应对所谓军事威胁。

NATO had an "Allied Command Europe Mobile Force (AMF)", a small quick reaction force, during the Cold War, which was replaced by the NATO Response Force (NRF) in November 2002, the organization's dominant fast response force so far that comprises army, naval, air, and special operation forces. NATO also set up within NRF a "spearhead force", known as the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF), which is a roughly 5,000-strong multi-national army brigade comprising five battalions with enhanced naval, air and special forces.

早在冷战时期，北约就成立名为“欧洲盟军联合机动部队”的快反部队。2002年11月，该快反部队被新组建的“北约快速反应部队”（NRF）取代。NRF是北约迄今为止最主要的快反机动兵力，涵盖陆海空及特种作战力量。北约还在该部队内部成立战备程度更高的“先锋”部队——“高度戒备联合特遣部队”。这是一支约5000人的多国陆军旅，由5个营组成，并加强了海空军和特战力量。

After the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out in 2022, NATO announced that it would swell the NRF to about 300,000 troops gradually and the VJTF to around 20,000 troops. According to NATO's Secretary General Stoltenberg, it is the most extensive reconfiguration of the organization's collective defense and deterrence capabilities since the Cold War.

2022年俄乌冲突爆发后，北约宣布将快反部队的规模逐步扩充至约30万人，“高度戒备联合特遣部队”增至约2万人。北约秘书长斯托尔滕贝格称，这是北约“冷战以来集体防御和威慑的一次最大幅度改造”。

Revised capability requirements

能力要求不断翻新

In 2014, NATO shifted its "main duty" from "global counter-terrorism" to "collective defense", requiring NRF, comprising 30 mechanized battalions, 30 air squadrons, and 30 combat vessels, to get ready within 30 days (45 at most) to enter and control the battlefield, and its "spearhead force" to be ready for deployment within two or three days.

2014年，北约将“主责主业”从“全球反恐”转回“集体防御”，对NRF的要求随即变为“4个30”，即包括30个作战营、30个空军中队和30艘舰艇，可在30天（最多45天）内迅速进入并掌控作战地区。其“先锋”部队可在“2至3天内投入部署”。

According to NATO's Allied Command Operations (ACO), the new ARF comprises cyber and air forces and several light infantry forces that can be mobilized at short notice. "The ARF can deliver forces, fires and effects within 10 days to either strengthen deterrence or impose strategic dilemma on adversaries.”Headquartered in Italy, it will be in direct charge of the 1st Division of the British Army, Spanish Special Operations Command, NATO's Naval Striking and Support Forces, Command of the Italian Maritime Forces, and NATO's Space Center and Cyber Defense Center.

北约欧洲盟军司令部称，新组建的“盟军反应部队”包括网络和太空部队，以及多支能在短时间内出动的轻步兵部队，“可在10天内投放兵力、火力和施加影响，以加强威慑力使对手陷入战略困境”。该部队总部位于意大利，直接领导英国陆军第1师、西班牙特种作战司令部、北约“海军打击和支援部队”、意大利海上部队司令部、北约航天中心和北约网络作战中心等。

A herald of transformation 

折射北约转型方向

The performance indicators of the newly formed ARF give a glimpse of the trend of NATO's new round of military transformation.

从新组建的“盟军反应部队”的各项能力指标，可以窥见北约新一轮军事转型的大致轨迹。

Its New Strategic Concept issued in June 2022 labeled Russia as the biggest and most immediate threat, and put forth three key tasks for the next ten years – deterrence and defense, crisis prevention and management, and cooperative security. Correspondingly, the organization presented a new defense approach that emphasized the fast deployment capability of its troops and covered more topics under the security umbrella. As a result, the scope of NATO's defense capacity building is also expanded to include key infrastructure, emerging and disruptive technologies, outer space, and other domains.

北约2022年6月发布的新战略概念，将俄罗斯界定为最大和直接威胁，提出未来10年三大核心任务：威慑与防御、危机预防与管理、合作安全。相应地，北约推出新防务模式，着重提升部队快速部署能力，将更多议题泛安全化。北约防务能力建设的范畴，也随之扩展至关键基础设施、新兴和颠覆性技术、太空等领域。

Since the 2022 summit in Madrid, NATO's military buildup has made a series of substantial progress – increasing military spending, intensifying forward defense, swelling the high readiness force, upgrading the command and control system, refining joint military exercises, and admitting Finland and Sweden as new members…For NATO, the possibility of a protracted Russia-Ukraine conflict demands that its members reach a consensus on "more capital, more combat forces, more capabilities, and more cooperation". They must also be made more prepared to tackle "mixed threats" (e.g. cyber-attacks and attacks on key infrastructure).

自2022年马德里峰会以来，北约军力建设取得一系列实质性进展：从增加军费开支到加强前沿防御，从扩充高战备部队到升级指挥控制系统，从优化联合军演到接纳整合新盟国芬兰和瑞典……在北约看来，俄乌冲突可能陷入持久战，北约各国需就“更多资金、更多战斗力、更多能力和更多合作”达成一致，各国需加强对“混合威胁”（如网络攻击和对关键基础设施的破坏）的防御能力。

NATO announced the start-up of the new ARF and its command organization on the eve of the Washington Summit in order to fan up the momentum for the summit, showcase the results of its military buildup, and create a sample for the future expansion and maintenance of its fast reaction forces. The announcement fully revealed NATO's ingrained security outlook characterized by confrontation, expansion and exclusivity and its insistence on military expansion for war despite its self-claim as a defensive organization. This will deal a heavy blow to the regional situation and the international order.

北约选在华盛顿峰会召开前夕，宣布新快反部队及其指挥机构的启动，旨在为峰会造势：展示军力建设阶段性成果；为将来全面扩充和维持快速反应军力打造样板。这也充分暴露出，自称防御性组织的北约，依然顽固秉持对抗性、扩张性和排他性的安全观，延续扩军备战之路，势必将对地区格局和国际秩序造成巨大冲击。