Selim Ibraimi- NATO leaders and presidents of member states agreed on Wednesday in The Hague, Netherlands, to achieve a 5 percent increase in defense spending (GDP) by 2035, which is considered an extraordinary target at this time. The increase does not come only from the US’s constant demand for more spending, but as is known, the world and international institutions, including military ones, are undergoing rapid changes. Thus, NATO members have taken measures to adapt to a new, fast-paced world, where tomorrow is unknown and what it may bring is uncertainty.
In February 2025, NATO announced that due to Russian aggression in Ukraine, it is forced to change its defense strategy, including weapons production and technological discoveries, as a long-term plan for the alliance’s member states. There have been several factors that have led NATO to reconsider its plans for industrial weapons production. Still, the main one seems to have been the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In addition to Ukraine, the recent war in the Middle East between Iran and Israel has shown that states need such strategic capabilities in wartime to prepare for and confront opposing forces. NATO needs weapons, and more than what the alliance is considered to possess in the event of a major conflict in Europe and beyond. NATO lacks weapons in a scenario of a conflict lasting several months. Therefore, NATO’s new framework is quite dynamic, as it includes a wide range of weapons production for the alliance’s member states. Thus, in 2023, at the NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, the “First Action Plan for Production and Defense” was agreed upon, which, according to NATO’s announcement, consists of three main points: gathering requirements, understanding and addressing production challenges, and increasing interoperability and standardization.
Meanwhile, at the 2024 Washington Summit, officials and leaders of member states agreed to expand NATO’s industrial capabilities. The proposals made public by NATO are related to the alliance’s commitment to accelerate the growth of sustainable and innovation-based industrial production against adversary states of the alliance. The plan aims to maintain the balance between demand and production of ammunition that is necessary for the armies of member states. Also, this week at the NATO Summit in The Hague, the Netherlands, the alliance announced an updated version of the documents, namely the “Action Plan for Production and Defence”, which responds to the need of member states to produce more and faster in a changing security environment. As for the “Action Plan for Rapid Adoption”, it is important that it is implemented promptly, and especially during war, to accelerate the adoption and integration of new technological products in the field of defence. The plan foresees new testing opportunities in the real world by launching all possible NATO discoveries, or in other words, in a real war situation, the use of weapons will also depend on the experience of NATO personnel and the exercises to be carried out by members of the alliance member states. Furthermore, NATO’s latest updated plan for 2025 aims to “build new defense industrial capabilities for the alliance to meet NATO member states’ objectives in this century.”
To maintain military balance or technological advantage, NATO also has several programs that allow member state governments to participate in and, at the same time, benefit from the same programs. The program called “Defense Innovation Accelerators for the North Atlantic”, “NATO Innovation Fund”, “Allied Command Innovation Center for Transformation”, and several other programs are in function of the strategic advantage that the alliance must maintain in this century. Meanwhile, NATO member states have pledged to do more in the discoveries of the time by focusing not only on cooperation among themselves, but also at the global level with countries that share common values. The development of the arms industry and innovation is now seen as a necessity in NATO. In addition to the usual summits, NATO has announced that, through forums, it will try to make the promises made regarding the alliance’s industrial capacities a reality. Despite plans and ideas to keep NATO active, since the last two-day summit in The Hague, the alliance has been put on alert for current and future threats. It seems to have taken this seriously and is making efforts to double, as we said, weapons production.
To achieve all these objectives, the political will of governments will be the main thing, and here much will depend on the US, which bears the main financial burden of NATO. NATO’s european members have been concerned about the harsh policies of the US president Donald Trump’s administration towards them. Fortunately, the NATO Summit in the Netherlands took a surprisingly positive turn, with great promises and commitments for NATO, and in particular, for the alliance’s member states from the Balkans. A major role in the production of armaments and defense will be played by arms companies in the US, Europe, and the Pacific states. After the collapse of the USSR and the Warsaw Pact, a total of 32 countries have joined NATO, from the former communist bloc and the Balkans, where Finland and Sweden recently became members of the alliance after the Russian attack on Ukraine. Powerful armies, technology, speed, control of space, and high-tech weapons will be a major challenge in this century for NATO and its adversaries. Who will win remains to be seen from the strategic advantage not only in technology, but also in thinking as part of the “grand strategy” of states.
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