Most of the war coverage from Ukraine is about what’s happening on the ground, but eventually NATO will have to rethink other facets of its military preparations in light of Russia’s aggression. One area that needs a close look with regard to both Russia and China is whether America and its allies have an adequate fleet of maritime patrol aircraft–particularly for finding and defeating hostile submarines. The U.S. Navy has developed a state-of-the-art patrol plane called the P-8 Poseidon based on Boeing’s 737 jetliner that has also been purchased by key allies, but the U.S. is well short of its stated warfighting requirement (138 aircraft). With Russia and China both investing heavily in more capable submarines, this gap needs to be addressed. We can no longer count on either country containing aggressive impulses in the future. I have written a commentary for Forbes here.
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