NATO decides on a huge upgrade program – response to Russia

Threat from Russia

NATO decides greatest upgrade since the cold war

Russia’s President Putin’s policy forces NATO to act. New military skills should be prepared in the event of cases. What does that mean for Germany and the Allies?

In view of the threat of Russia, NATO has decided on the largest upgrade program since the time of the Cold War. It provides to expand the skills for deterrent and defense extremely in the coming years. The top priority have capacities such as far -reaching weapon systems, air defense and mobile land forces.

The decision for the program was made at a meeting of the Defense Minister of the Alliance States in Brussels, as the German Press Agency learned from diplomats. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte had already described it as “historical” in the morning.

In detail, the upgrade program consists of new targets for military skills. With them, the individual Allies are given exactly what they have to contribute to the detriment and defense in the future. The necessary skills were determined on the basis of new defense plans. These also take into account the assessment of secret services that, despite the current war war against Ukraine, Russia could be ready for a war against a NATO state in a few years.

The concrete new planning goals are classified as strictly secret to make NATO the most unpredictable opponent as possible. According to information from the German Press Agency, however, the previously valid requirements for military skills have increased by around 30 percent. According to Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD), the Bundeswehr alone will need up to 60,000 additional active soldiers in order to be able to meet the new NATO requirements.

The new goals are a particularly major challenge because the ones who have been valid so far have not yet been achieved. Ranghohe military recently spoke of a gap of 30 percent.

The planned new requirement for defense spending is also derived from the current deficits and the new planning goals. At the end of the month, all NATO members should commit themselves to investing at least one amount of 3.5 percent of the national gross domestic product (GDP) in defense at the end of the month. In addition, another 1.5 percent of GDP for defense-relevant expenses-for example for infrastructure-could come, so that in the end the quota demanded by US President Donald Trump will be achieved of five percent.

In Germany, the proportion of defense spending on German economic output is to increase by 0.2 percentage points per year over a period of five to seven years. A quota of 3.5 percent could then be reached by 2032 of the 2.1 percent last year. According to Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU), every percentage point would currently mean more than an increase of 45 billion euros in defense spending for Germany.