BRUSSELS, May 18. /TASS/. The European Union has a strategic problem due to its inability to independently plan deep strikes using surveillance systems and intelligence services, according to the Euractiv portal.
Since the Cold War, these tasks have been handled by the United States, it said.
According to the portal, the conflicts in Ukraine and the Persian Gulf have shown that long-range strikes do not deliver a decisive blow but work best when applied continuously against an adversary’s critical logistics, communications, and infrastructure. Europe collectively lacks the capacity to sustain deep strikes of this kind, and that gap is now a strategic liability, the publication notes. Euractiv writes that the EU's ELSA (European Long-Range Strike Approach) initiative is primarily focused on acquiring deep-strike missiles "without the system-level integration required to build a credible deterrent."
Europe’s vulnerabilities are rooted in post-Cold War choices. NATO developed deep strike concepts during the Cold War, the portal emphasizes. It notes that "NATO developed deep strike concepts during the Cold War, but the operational burden shifted to the United States." European allies came to rely on American intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), strike assets, and stockpiles, the article states.
According to Euractiv, the EU currently is too preoccupied with purchasing long-range missiles themselves without paying attention to the system of their tactical integration.