NATO leaders began unveiling arms deals worth tens of billions of dollars in Turkey on Tuesday, driving home the message that they are heeding US calls to spend more to defend Europe before a summit with President Donald Trump.
To upbeat tunes and slick videos at a defence industry forum in the capital Ankara, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced a series of initiatives, inviting a roll-call of representatives from NATO members to join the stage. The sum of various deal values was projected onto a screen.
“We can do more when we do it together. And we must do more of it,” Rutte said. “NATO allies are joining new multinational procurement coalitions. This really helps us get more of what you need across a range of capabilities.”
The deals, which had been mostly kept under wraps to make a splash at the summit, included European countries buying surveillance drones from US company Northrop Grumman and NATO buying planes from Sweden’s Saab.
The US is also in talks with Germany and other nations about establishing joint production in Europe of missiles that are in high demand for the defence of Ukraine, a source told Reuters.
The move followed growing concern in Washington about the capacity of U.S. weapons manufacturers to meet demand, as both the war on Iran and the war in Ukraine depleted U.S. arms stocks.
Rutte also said NATO allies will invest more than $40 billion in the next five years in their anti-drone capabilities.
The announcements add weight to Trump’s frequent criticism of Europe for insufficient defence contributions and over-relying on the U.S. to defend them through NATO, which has protected the continent since the early years of the Cold War.
Trump reinforced the message in a video previewing his visit on Truth Social, urging Europe to spend more on its own defence.
Trumpwill fly in to meet Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and join fellow leaders of the military alliance for the summit, which begins with a dinner on Tuesday evening.
