The second year of the war in Ukraine and trends in NATO's nuclear sharing strategy: focusing on the concept of Conventional-Nuclear Integration(CNI)

Biyeon Cho

Senior Researcher at Korea Institute for Defense Analyses

bjo.snu@gmail.com

This article examines the evolution of NATO's nuclear sharing strategy in the second year of the war in Ukraine. Noting that the term "nuclear sharing" has the nuance that European allies share the right to use U.S. nuclear forces, but is more accurately a "nuclear conventional integration strategy" that allows U.S.-deployed nuclear forces to be carried by allied conventional forces, hence argues that the evolution of NATO's nuclear sharing strategy should be assessed through the lens of the concept of conventional nuclear integration(CNI), which was recently mentioned in the U.S.-ROK Nuclear Consultative Group(NCG). In summary, NATO's nuclear sharing strategy has changed in two main ways since the war in Ukraine. First, for the "hardware" aspect, the modernization of U.S. tactical nuclear forces and allies' multirole combat aircraft, as well as the potential revitalization of former nuclear missile bases, are notable trends. Second, for the software, visible developments in joint exercises for the implementation of conventional nuclear integration are highlighted. At the end of the paper, some implications of the CNI developments in the U.S.-ROK are presented based on the above.