Perhaps the most surprising development at October’s Euronaval show in Paris was the public interest in naval ballistic-missile defense displayed by several important companies, presumably reflecting new official interest. The U.S. Navy has been on anti-ballistic missile patrol since 2004, and NATO has accepted a land installation in Romania. However, many Europeans have argued against embracing this type of defense to avoid offending the Russians, who regard it as an attempt to devalue their own nuclear forces. This is an increasingly sensitive issue. The Russians find they cannot afford anything remotely similar to the scale of military investment achieved by the old Soviet Union, and hence cannot modernize or maintain their non-nuclear forces appropriately. More and more that leaves nuclear forces as the core of Russia’s military power.
