Sustaining European Combat Power: MRO and Logistics Chokepoints in High-Intensity Warfare
An institutional deep-dive into NATO's sustainment chokepoints. Analyze the Tier-2 and Tier-3 actors defining European military endurance and the strategic pivot toward logistical resilience.
32 pages · PDF · 27 December 2025 · Licensed single-user copy, watermarked to the buyer
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About this report
European defense effectiveness is not only measured by platform counts but by sustainment infrastructure throughput. Decades of post-Cold War downsizing have rendered NATO’s maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) ecosystem dangerously brittle. As high-intensity attrition returns to the continent, the capacity to cycle spare parts has become the primary limiter of combat tempo.
This research identifies the structural chokepoints within the European logistics chain, from propulsion depots to electronic repair labs. While public focus remains on hardware procurement, professional military endurance is governed by recovery assets and depot bays.
Key questions this report answers
- How brittle is NATO's maintenance, repair and overhaul ecosystem after decades of post-Cold War downsizing, and why is sustainment throughput the primary limiter of combat tempo?
- Where are the structural chokepoints, from propulsion depots to electronic repair labs and forward recovery, in the European logistics chain?
- Which single points of failure create logistics friction in high-intensity attrition warfare?
- What industrial and policy measures could bridge the sustainment gap?
Inside this report
- War of Attrition Scenario: High Wear, High Damage, and Forward Repair Needs
- European MRO Capacity Baseline: A Lean, Strained Sustainment Ecosystem
- Propulsion and Powertrain Sustainment: Critical Subsystems at Capacity
- Electronics, Sensors, and Mission Systems MRO: High-Tech Achilles’ Heels
- Forward Repair and Battlefield Recovery: The Frontline Sustainment Fight
- Logistics Friction and Single Points of Failure: Chokepoints in the Sustainment
- Industrial and Policy Implications: Bridging the Sustainment Gap
- Conclusion: Sustaining the Fight – Europe’s Endurance Test and the Way Forward
Who it's for
Strategy, corporate-development and investment teams that need an ecosystem-level view — budgets, industrial capacity and technology landscapes — before committing capital or capacity.
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Methodology, format & delivery
DFM reports are built from primary and official sources — TED procurement notices, CORDIS and the EU Funding & Tenders Portal, EIB operations, the NATO Innovation Fund portfolio, SIPRI data, official budget documents and company disclosures — read together with the underlying legal texts. Sources are cited in the document; it reflects them as of its publication date (27 December 2025). You receive a 32-page PDF, watermarked to you on every page, delivered on the confirmation page and by e-mail immediately after checkout (personal link valid 72 hours, up to 5 downloads). Guest checkout, single-user licence — Terms of Sale.
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