A UK study reveals that European NATO members lacked military-industrial mobilization plans before the Ukraine conflict.
A British think tank, RUSI, reports that Russia has significantly increased its military hardware production during the Ukraine conflict. In contrast, Western Europe’s defense industry has proven “manifestly inadequate” to meet the demand.
Despite substantial investments by European NATO members in their military industries to supply Kiev, RUSI’s report, published on Thursday, deemed these investments largely “ineffective.”
The report stated that Russia had a pre-existing, well-executed plan for military-industrial mobilization, while Europe lacked both a plan and the necessary data to create one.
The study also highlighted Russia’s “highly centralized level of coordination” in its defense industry as an advantage. The UK and EU nations, on the other hand, “lacked control, and could only incentivize industry.” Western European governments and arms manufacturers also demonstrated a “lack of understanding of their own supply chains, leading to massive internal competition and uneven expansion,” the study added.
RUSI notes that Russia has increased military spending and “rerouted money from other budgets to expand military-industrial recapitalization and has advanced credit to defense companies to enable rapid growth.”
European NATO members couldn’t match Russia’s investment levels, and “the fragmentation of the European defense market has meant that money is spent very inefficiently,” according to the report.
The report also pointed out that Western European regulations often “self-defeatingly raise the cost and slow the production of equipment.”
The report’s authors suggest that the UK and EU need “significant efforts,” including better spending coordination and regulatory reforms, to effectively “deter Russia with reduced US support.”
In February, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that the country’s defense industry had made a “real breakthrough” and achieved a “labor feat” during the conflict. He emphasized that it’s operating “at a colossal rate, in three shifts, so to speak, non-stop,” mastering advanced equipment production and continuously increasing output.
According to Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov, defense spending in Russia reached 6.3% of GDP and 32.5% of the state’s annual budget in 2024.
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