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Air forces

Squadrons 2,500

2,000

1,500
1988
2002
2012
1988
2002
2012

1,000
Absolute numbers Neutral air forces Including technological

500
differences
0

European air forces Russian/Soviet air forces

Land forces

Battalions 6,000
5,000
4,000 1988 2002 2012 1988 2002 2012
3,000 Absolute numbers Including technological
2,000
1,000 differences

0

European land forces Neutral land forces Russian/Soviet land forces

www.ecfr.eu especially in Central Europe, have such small forces that sensitive issue in European defence: many units in today’s
they can hardly train them on their own in combined European armies exist more on paper than in reality.
October 2015 arms manoeuvre warfare. Furthermore, the long period of Under-staffing, lack of exercises, low combat-readiness,
peace in Europe has led to an erosion of combat-readiness and the constant drain of men and equipment to other
ECFR/143 levels. European analysts rightly point out that, despite tasks (such as attending to natural disasters, peacekeeping,
tremendous efforts to reform the Russian armed forces, and humanitarian missions) have led to an erosion of the
only 65 percent of their new combat brigades are actually real combat strength of European land forces. If called to
combat-ready,28 but they tend to forget that the European action, it would take months to repatriate personnel, fill
Defence Agency rated European land forces as 30.9 ranks, get equipment combat-ready, and then deploy it
percent deployable (i.e. combat-ready) and 7.5 percent to the theatre. If Russia instigated a crisis, it could bring
sustainable deployable.29 While the figures were calculated its own forces to an increased level of combat-readiness
differently and are difficult to compare, they point to a beforehand, achieving numerical superiority again.

28 The Military Balance 2015, p. 159.

29 Silvija Guzelyte, “National Defence Data 2012”, European Defence Agency, Brussels,

8 February 2014, p. 24, available at http://www.eda.europa.eu/docs/default-source/
finance-documents/national-defence-data-2012.pdf.