Category:NATO aircraft

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed in 1948 by the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Italy, Norway, Denmark, Luxembourg, Portugal, Iceland, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. It was agreed upon that an attack upon a member of NATO was to be treated as an attack upon NATO itself, and each NATO member was expected to respond in some form to assist an attacked member, presumably militarily. Greece and Turkey were allowed to join NATO in 1952, and even the Soviet Union attempted to join in 1954; however, they were rejected, as the member nations feared the USSR sought to sow discord inside NATO. After West Germany joined NATO in 1955, the Soviets proceeded to form the Warsaw Pact. At its outset, the motive of NATO was to defend Europe from Soviet aggression. It was expected that the stronger ground forces of the USSR would require the extensive use of aircraft to neutralize them in a hypothetical Fulda Gap scenario, neutralizing Soviet tank columns with attackers and ready to conduct nuclear retaliation strikes when necessary. As the Cold War progressed, more countries such as Spain joined NATO, and as the Cold War ended, some former PACT countries such as East Germany, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic became NATO members. NATO continues to operate to this day.