NATO agrees on largest armament programme in decades
On Thursday, NATO finalized its largest rearmament program since the Cold War, according to dpa's diplomatic sources. The agreement emphasizes a massive buildup of defense capabilities, prioritizing areas like long-range weapons systems, air defense, and mobile land forces to enhance the Alliance's collective strength against evolving threats and ensure NATO deterrence.
- World
- DPA
- Published Date: 03:24 | 05 June 2025
NATO has agreed on the largest rearmament programme since the Cold War, sources close to the talks told dpa on Thursday.
The agreement, reached as NATO defence ministers convened in Brussels, provides for a huge expansion of deterrence and defence capacities in the coming years, as Russia continues to pose a major threat to the Western military alliance.
Top priorities include long-range weapons systems, air defence and mobile land forces, according to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
The rearmament programme entails specific targets for different military capabilities.
Individual NATO countries are to be given precise instructions on what they have to contribute to joint deterrence and defence in the near future.
The required capabilities were defined based on new defence plans, taking into account assessments by intelligence services that Russia could be ready to attack a NATO member in just a few years, despite Moscow's ongoing war against Ukraine.
The specific new planning objectives are classified as top secret in order to make NATO as unpredictable as possible for Russia.
Under the new plans, the current military targets are to be increased by around 30%, sources told dpa.
These new targets are considered to be a particularly difficult challenge because the current goals are far from being met. Senior military officials recently spoke of an existing gap of 30%.
For example, Germany's military - the Bundeswehr - needs up to 60,000 more active soldiers, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on Thursday.
Germany has been struggling to expand its military in recent years. According to the Defence Ministry, there were around 181,150 soldiers at the end of 2024, falling short of previous recruiting targets.
The agreement, reached as NATO defence ministers convened in Brussels, provides for a huge expansion of deterrence and defence capacities in the coming years, as Russia continues to pose a major threat to the Western military alliance.
Top priorities include long-range weapons systems, air defence and mobile land forces, according to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
The rearmament programme entails specific targets for different military capabilities.
Individual NATO countries are to be given precise instructions on what they have to contribute to joint deterrence and defence in the near future.
The required capabilities were defined based on new defence plans, taking into account assessments by intelligence services that Russia could be ready to attack a NATO member in just a few years, despite Moscow's ongoing war against Ukraine.
The specific new planning objectives are classified as top secret in order to make NATO as unpredictable as possible for Russia.
Under the new plans, the current military targets are to be increased by around 30%, sources told dpa.
These new targets are considered to be a particularly difficult challenge because the current goals are far from being met. Senior military officials recently spoke of an existing gap of 30%.
For example, Germany's military - the Bundeswehr - needs up to 60,000 more active soldiers, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on Thursday.
Germany has been struggling to expand its military in recent years. According to the Defence Ministry, there were around 181,150 soldiers at the end of 2024, falling short of previous recruiting targets.
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