All NATO countries will meet the alliance’s long-standing defence spending target this year – but only three are currently reaching a new, higher goal set in June, data showed on Thursday.
The figures come as Germany’s largest weapons producer, Rheinmetall, opened a new ammunition plant in northern Germany on Wednesday in a ceremony attended by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and senior German officials.
NATO members agreed in 2014 to spend at least 2 percent of national output on defence. For years many fell short. But the alliance said that in 2025 all 32 members will meet the benchmark, with seven at the minimum of 2 percent and others only slightly above.
Spending has risen since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, alongside pressure from US President Donald Trump for European allies to pay more for their own security, NATO said.
Dutch are first to buy US arms for Ukraine under NATO scheme
Poland is spending the most on defence relative to its economy at 4.48 percent, followed by Lithuania at 4 percent and Latvia at 3.73 percent. They are the only countries already above the new 3.5 percent goal agreed at a June summit in The Hague.
Leaders pledged to hit that target by 2035, alongside a wider aim of spending 5 percent of GDP on defence and security-related investments. That includes cybersecurity and upgrades to roads and ports to handle heavy military equipment, NATO said.
“Cash alone doesn't provide security,” Rutte said on Wednesday at the Rheinmetall factory in Unterluess. “Deterrence doesn't come from 5 percent. Deterrence comes from the capability to ... fight potential enemies."
New ammunition plant
The Rheinmetall facility will focus on 155mm artillery shells, a weapon in high demand for Ukraine. The company said production would rise to 350,000 shells per year by 2027.
“With this we're opening a new chapter both in our company's history and that of our site at Unterluess with regard to artillery production,” Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger said.
Rheinmetall invested about €500 million in the site, which will also produce rocket motors. The wider complex already makes tanks and other artillery systems.
Macron names top military aide and ex-fighter pilot as new armed forces chief
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius and Finance Minister and Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil joined Rutte for the ceremony, the company and officials said.
On the same day, activists from the Disarm Rheinmetall alliance staged a sit-in outside a Bundeswehr career centre in Cologne, part of days of action against militarisation, police and local media said.
Rheinmetall has grown rapidly as demand for weapons has risen in Europe.
The group has reported record orders this year, and its share price has climbed from below €100 after the 2022 invasion to peaks near €1,900 earlier this year, market data showed.
(with newswires)
