NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said a June 2025 summit will “transform” the Alliance to “one that is stronger, fairer and more lethal so that we can continue to keep our people safe and our adversaries at bay.”
Rutte spoke at Chatham House, a London think tank, ahead of the summit and on the heels of a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels where representatives from the Alliance’s 32 nations agreed on the new targets to maintaining stability for all its member states.
“Because of Russia, war has returned to Europe,” he said. “We also face the threat of terrorism and fierce global competition.”
Plans call for the Alliance to have a 400% increase in missile defense, thousands more armored vehicles and tanks and millions more artillery shells.
“We must double our enabling capabilities such as logistics, supply, transportation and medical support,” Rutte said. Allies also plan to procure some 700 F-35 fighter jets, he added.
“Russia could be ready to use military force against NATO within five years. Five years,” he said. “Let’s not kid ourselves, we are all on the Eastern flank now. The new generation of Russian missiles travel at many times the speed of sound. The distance between European capitals is only a matter of minutes.”
Rutte noted that Russia has teamed with China, Iran and North Korea. “They are expanding their militaries and their capabilities. Putin’s war machine is speeding up, not slowing down. Russia is reconstituting its forces with Chinese technology and producing more weapons faster than we thought,” he said. “In terms of ammunition, Russia produces in three months what the whole of NATO produces in a year. And its defense industrial base is expected to roll out 1,500 tanks, 3,000 armored vehicles and 200 Iskander missiles this year alone. Russia could be ready to use military force against NATO within five years.”
At the summit in The Hague, NATO members are expected to approve increased spending of up to 5% of each nation’s gross domestic product (GDP). The proposal calls for 3.5% spending on core defense, with 1.5% going to security-related investment, including “infrastructure and resilience,” according to a NATO news release.
The targets “describe exactly what capabilities Allies need to invest in over the coming years… to keep our deterrence and defense strong and our one billion people safe,” Rutte said during a news conference after the defense ministers meeting.
He emphasized that NATO remains defense-focused, but the Alliance must be better prepared for potential conflict.
“We need more resources, forces and capabilities so that we are prepared to face any threat, and to implement our collective defense plans in full. We live in a different world, we live in a more dangerous world,” he said. “With our military power, and our resolve to use it, if necessary, no one should even think about attacking us.”