Sollfrank runs NATO’s Joint Assist and Enabling Command (JSEC), tasked with coordinating the swift motion of troops and tanks throughout Europe in addition to logistical preparations such because the storage of munitions on NATO’s japanese flank.
Not too long ago, JSEC – which relies within the southern German city of Ulm – staged an train in coordination of affected person flows.
Ought to a battle with Russia come up, wounded troops won’t solely should be transported over a bigger distance than in different wars of current years, Sollfrank mentioned.
Russian air defences and jets would threaten medical evacuation flights in a method that insurgents in Afghanistan or Iraq couldn’t, probably creating a necessity for hospital trains that may transport extra casualties on the similar time than plane.
“Air superiority must be achieved within the first place. It should require time to succeed over the complete size and depth of the entrance line,” Sollfrank mentioned.
“For planning causes, all choices to take a large number of wounded to medical installations should be thought-about, which incorporates trains however probably additionally buses.”
Differing medical laws between nations are one other hurdle to beat, Sollfrank mentioned. A “navy medical Schengen”, akin to the political Schengen zone that permits free motion inside a lot of the European Union, could possibly be an answer.
It might entail an space of free passage for delicate medicines resembling narcotics or robust painkillers, which might be wanted to deal with wounded troops however whose cross-border transport is regulated.
