NATO needs a 400% increase in anti -aircraft and missile defense, argues the head of the Alliance: “The danger will not disappear”
Rocket launched by the Sol-Aer Patriot rocket system, in the CAPU Midia training polygon, June 14, 2024. Photo source: Abaca / Abaca Press / Profimedia
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will hold a speech in London on Monday that he will say that the North Atlantic Alliance needs an increase of 400% of the anti-aircraft and missile defense, which is one of the priorities of the NATO members to take place in The Hague, at the end of this month, reports Reuters.
Rutte is advancing for Member States to increase their defense expenses to 3.5% of GDP and to allocate another 1.5% for wider security expenses, to respond to US President Donald Trump's request on a total goal of 5%. Last month, Rutte said that this objective will be agreed at the Summit of June 24-25.
In the speech he will hold at Chatham House, a Think Tank in London, Rutte will argue that, in order for NATO to maintain its credible ability to discourage and defense, it is necessary “an increase of 400% of the anti -aircraft and missile defense.”
“We see in Ukraine how Russia causes terror in the air, so we will strengthen the shield that protects our sky,” he says, according to fragments from discourse provided by his office.
“The reality is that we need a huge leap in our collective defense capacity. The reality is that we have to have more forces and capabilities to implement our defense plans. The reality is that the danger will not even disappear after the Ukraine's war,” Mark Rutte will say.
Given that the struggles of Russia's war against Ukraine continue almost uninterrupted, despite the cessation of fire, European countries are under increasing pressure to increase their defense budgets, after Trump has reported a policy change, demanding that Europe are able to defend themselves better alone.
Several countries say they have started to do this: the UK has committed to increase their defense expenses from 2.3% to 2.5% of GDP by 2027, and then to 3% of GDP at a later date. Germany has said that it will need about 50,000 to 60,000 additional active soldiers to achieve new NATO goals.
