NATO member states must significantly increase their air defence capabilities, according to Sky News, which obtained a copy of the speech given by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London.
Later on Monday, Rutte is expected to deliver a speech in which he will call for a “quantum leap in collective defence” by NATO, in particular, calling for a “400% increase in air and missile defence.”
In addition, the NATO Secretary General will say that the alliance needs “thousands of armoured vehicles and tanks, millions of artillery shells.” At the same time, in his opinion, NATO should “double its support capabilities, such as logistics, supply, transport and medical assistance.” He also noted that in view of the growing threats, NATO needs to be “a stronger, fairer and more lethal alliance.”
Rutte is scheduled to hold talks with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday.
Earlier, Bloomberg, citing sources, reported that NATO is demanding that European countries increase their ground-based air defence capabilities fivefold. However, according to NATO’s plan, not every individual country has to increase its capabilities fivefold, this figure is cumulative for all European NATO allies. No specific timeline for achieving this goal has been provided.
On June 5, a meeting of NATO defence ministers was held in Brussels. It precedes the North Atlantic Alliance summit, which will take place in The Hague on June 24-25. According to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, the main topic of the event will be increasing investment in defence.
US President Donald Trump demanded that the target for military spending be raised from 2% to 5% of GDP. Rutte proposed a compromise: 3.5% for defence and another 1.5% of GDP for broader security-related areas.
