"NATO's 5% target, a giant step" - Rutte: Alliance will invest in air defense, purchase thousands of tanks
NATO's target to expand defense spending will see allies fund a fivefold increase in air defense capabilities, the purchase of "thousands" of tanks and armored vehicles and "millions of munitions," alliance leader Mark Rutte said on the eve of a summit in The Hague.
Leaders from the 32 allied nations are expected to sign off on a new defense spending target of 5% of GDP on Wednesday, more than double the 2% level agreed in 2014 at a summit in Wales.
Rutte described the increase as "a giant step that is ambitious, historic and fundamental to securing our future" that will lead to a "stronger, fairer and more lethal alliance".
"Our security environment has changed," he said, adding that if the alliance does not increase spending and production, "its deterrence will not be strong enough" in a few years, when Russia may have the means to attack another European country.
The target will be divided into two parts: 3.5% of GDP will be spent on core military spending (which includes military equipment), while an additional 1.5% will go to investments to increase troop mobility, cybersecurity, and resistance to hybrid threats.
The full list, which was the subject of difficult negotiations between the allies with an agreement reached last Thursday, will however remain classified. The allies will have to have achieved the target by 2035, according to sources close to the negotiations.
A review of the spending and capabilities each country needs will be held in 2029. Rutte said that this review and the fact that allies will have to submit annual reports is a "big change from the Welsh promise" to commit 2% of GDP, which many allies did not achieve until this year, after harsh criticism and veiled threats from the new US administration.
He also said that allies, which include Albania, Canada, 23 EU countries, Iceland, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States, will have "flexibility to determine their path of commitments to NATO."
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