NATO is urging its European member states to increase their ground-based air defense forces fivefold to close a critical gap in light of the growing threat of new Russian aggression, Bloomberg reports, citing sources with the Alliance.
“The ramp-up will be discussed at a gathering of North Atlantic Treaty Organization defense ministers in Brussels on Thursday [June 5],” the article reads.
Each country will be given an individual target for strengthening its capabilities, although no clear deadlines have been set yet.
NATO allies are in urgent need of expanding their ground-based air defense systems. Over the past 30 years, the Alliance has reduced these systems, shifting focus toward threats from the Middle East and North Africa after the Cold War, a source said.
The push for more defense hardware is part of NATO’s broader ambition to raise military spending.
“We are not at war, but we’re not at peace either,” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said at a meeting in Vilnius on June 2. “We must continue to strengthen our deterrence and defense and that means pivoting toward a full war-fighting readiness.”
Under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, NATO is expected to adopt a new spending target — 5 percent of GDP, with 3.5 percent going directly to defense and another 1.5 percent allocated to related areas such as infrastructure, cyber defense, and civil protection, Bloomberg reports.
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