London: NATO members need to increase their air and missile defences by 400 per cent to counter the threat from Russia, the head of the military alliance plans to say Monday.
Secretary-General Mark Rutte will say during a visit to London that NATO must take a “quantum leap in our collective defence” to face growing instability and threats, according to extracts released by NATO before Rutte’s speech.
Rutte is due to meet UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer at 10 Downing St. ahead of a NATO summit in the Netherlands, where the 32-nation alliance is likely to commit to a big hike in military spending.
Like other NATO members, the UK has been reassessing its defence spending since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Starmer has pledged to increase British defence spending to 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product by 2027 and to 3 per cent by 2034.
Rutte has proposed a target of 3.5 per cent of economic output on military spending and another 1.5 per cent on “defence-related expenditure” such as roads, bridges, airfields and sea ports. He said last week he is confident the alliance will agree to the target at its summit in The Hague June 24-25.
At the moment, 22 of the 32 member countries meet or exceed NATO’s current 2 per cent target.
The new target would meet a demand by President Donald Trump that member states spend 5 per cent of their gross domestic product on defence. Trump has long questioned the value of NATO and complained that the US provides security to European countries that don’t contribute enough.
Rutte plans to say in a speech at the Chatham House think tank in London that NATO needs thousands more armoured vehicles and millions more artillery shells, as well as a 400 per cent increase in air and missile defence.
“We see in Ukraine how Russia delivers terror from above, so we will strengthen the shield that protects our skies,” he plans to say.
“Wishful thinking will not keep us safe. We cannot dream away the danger. Hope is not a strategy. So NATO has to become a stronger, fairer and more lethal alliance.”
European NATO members, led by the UK and France, have scrambled to coordinate their defence posture as Trump transforms American foreign policy, seemingly sidelining Europe as he looks to end the war in Ukraine.
Last week, the UK government said it would build new nuclear-powered attack submarines, prepare its army to fight a war in Europe and become “a battle-ready, armour-clad nation.” The plans represent the most sweeping changes to British defences since the collapse of the Soviet Union more than three decades ago.
AP
