ABSTRACT
A quietly important element of NATO’s Readiness Action Plan (RAP), agreed at the 2014 Wales Summit, is the Alliance’s need ‘to reinforce its eastern Allies through preparation of national infrastructure, such as airfields and ports’. 1 Put simply, without the necessary infrastructure, including transportation networks and hubs, and energy supply lines, it will be difficult for NATO to preposition or sustain military units and ensure that the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (or VJTF, also known as the ‘spearhead force’) is able to deploy within a few days. Yet the Alliance has limited collective financial means to modernise Europe’s defence transportation and supply links. The European Union, with its range of financial mechanisms, might be able to help.
