The state of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO's) land forces is something of a paradox.

NATO's land forces: 

Losing ground

by Guillaume Lasconjarias

• Of all the service branches, allied land forces have borne the brunt of declining defense budgets.
• In recent years NATO's land forces have been professionalized and transformed, but their ability to carry out the various missions they might be tasked with is at risk because of a shortage of men and key materiel. 
• Maintaining the operational experience and combat skills gained from deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan will be difficult, although the NATO Response Force could, if properly structured, help ease that problem.

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Read more: www.aei.org

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