NATO summit to bolster defence spending with smarter strategies

Outgoing NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that this week, the Alliance countries will sign a joint commitment to greater and smarter expenditure on armaments. In Washington, a three-day North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit is starting.

Jens Stoltenberg said that the Alliance countries "will sign a joint commitment concerning the defence industry this week," promising greater and smarter spending on military equipment purchases so that armament manufacturers in NATO countries become "stronger, more innovative, and capable of large-scale production."

The declaration, as announced by the Norwegian politician, is to contain three main elements: a commitment to increase spending on armaments, to "spend better by spending together," and to cooperate with defence industries in Ukraine and the four NATO partner countries: Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.

The NATO Secretary General emphasized that allies must approach defence spending more wisely, undertaking joint projects and joint procurements, which will enable the signing of long-term contracts on a larger scale.

As a good example of procurement cooperation in NATO, Jens Stoltenberg mentioned, among others, the F-35 fighter program, which is produced not only in the United States but also in eight other Alliance countries.

Stoltenberg also informed that the NATO agency NSPA, responsible for defence procurement, last year signed contracts for ammunition worth $15 billion CAD, and on Tuesday for the purchase of Stinger anti-aircraft missiles worth $920 million CAD.

The Norwegian also pointed out a bad example. In this context, he mentioned that artillery shells of the basic NATO calibre of 155 mm produced in the Netherlands are incompatible with the 155 mm howitzers produced in Germany.

"That is the opposite of interoperability and what we want to achieve," emphasized Stoltenberg, who will be replaced in October by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.