Nato plans terrorism defence package

Nato plans to approve a package of measures to combat terrorism this month as part of a drive to transform the Cold War alliance into a force able to tackle 21st century threats, officials said on Wednesday.
The plan, which includes steps to make aircraft less vulnerable to shoulder-launched rockets and to protect shipping from attack, will be put to allied defence ministers meeting on the eve of a June 28-29 summit in Istanbul.
"This is an area where Nato is making substantive progress," said spokesman James Appathurai, noting steps taken by the alliance since the September 11 hijacked aircraft attacks on the United States in 2001.
Nato is banking on the defence ministers' meeting to bring what one diplomat described as "stocking fillers" to a summit whose agenda has shrunk over the last few weeks.
Nato briefly considered cutting the summit to one day because plans to meet Arab foreign ministers and Russian President Vladimir Putin came to nothing, and because there was virtually no prospect of agreement on an alliance role in Iraq.
The defence ministers will discuss ways of improving their armed forces' training for crisis management operations and of sending them quickly far beyond the borders Nato was set up to defend 55 years ago.
The 26 allies, excluding the United States, have 1.5 million people in uniform - about two million including reserves - but claim to be over-stretched despite having fewer than 60,000 troops now deployed in multinational operations.
The eight-point package for defence against terrorism will commit allies to make sure they can:
-- reduce the vulnerability of large aircraft to so-called man portable air defence systems;
-- protect harbours and vessels from surface and sub-surface threats;
-- make helicopters less vulnerable to ground attack, especially by rocket-propelled grenades;
-- counter improvised explosive devices;
-- airdrop special operations forces with precision;
-- detect and protect against weapons of mass destruction;
-- spy on and target terrorists through new technology;
-- dispose of explosives and deal with bomb attacks.