NATO to ask Europe and Canada for 30% boost in military capacity

DRAWSKO POMORSKIE, POLAND - FEBRUARY 26: A soldier of the United Kingdom's 2nd Battalion Royal Anglian infantry unit storms an enemy position in a simulated attack during the NATO "Brilliant Jump" military exercises on February 26, 2024 in Drawsko Pomorskie, Poland. Brilliant Jump is combining forces from the United Kingdom, Poland, Spain, Albania and Turkey under NATO's Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (Land) (VJTF(L)). Brilliant Jump is part of the ongoing NATO Steadfast Defender exercise, with is involving 90,000 troops in maneuvers across Europe. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

NATO plans to ask European allies and Canada to increase their stocks of weaponry and equipment by about 30% in the next few years, according to a senior alliance official.

New targets for the military capabilities of NATO allies, which would update ones set before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, are currently being discussed with the aim of adopting them by early June, when the alliance’s defense ministers gather in Brussels.

Reaching these new levels would require a massive financial effort from most European allies and Canada, while US outlays wouldn’t need to change, officials added.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is responding to the growing threat from Russia, as well as President Donald Trump’s drive to shift more of the burden for defense from the US to the rest of the alliance.

As currently envisioned, the new targets would require a 30% increase broadly across sectors in the volume of equipment, with some specific categories going up much more, or less, according to one of the officials, who like the others was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive plans.

According to the senior NATO official, these new targets, which will take 5 to 15 years to implement, will lead to a much stronger European and Canadian force within NATO that is less reliant on the US.

The US would largely be able to meet the new targets with equipment it already has. But most allies would need to raise defense spending to more than 3% of gross domestic product — a level that leaders are widely expected to set as their new spending target when they meet for a NATO summit in The Hague in late June.

Trump has repeatedly accused NATO members of taking advantage of Washington by not spending enough on defense. He has indicated that the US will step back from its traditional security role in Europe and demanded allies spend 5% — a goal widely viewed as unrealistic and one even the US doesn’t meet.

Allies now widely expect the US to reduce its troop presence in Europe as its priorities shift to the Indo-Pacific region.

Ever since Trump won the election, European countries have been scrambling to boost defense spending and rethink their military positioning.

The five main areas being targeted in the next period are air defense systems, deep-fire capacities, logistics, communication and information systems and land maneuver capacities. Those will be underpinned with increased weapons stocks and spare parts. Air defense systems were specifically singled out as an area that require more capability from all allies, including the US.

Even as Europe boosts its capabilities, the US would remain an essential backbone, particularly in areas of high-end combat power such as intelligence and reconnaissance, logistics, nuclear submarines.