North Atlantic Treaty Organization officials revealed that NATO plans to further advance the European security discussion from simply "increasing military spending" to "how to spend money on key technologies that determine the shape of modern warfare" at the summit in Turkey in July this year, focusing on emerging fields such as drones and artificial intelligence.
According to people familiar with the matter, as NATO prepares for the Ankara leaders' meeting, one of the main topics at the meeting will be how to make more efficient investments in drone technology, artificial intelligence enabling systems, etc., instead of continuing to invest resources mainly in traditional defense hardware. To this end, NATO plans to invite defense companies to hold a supporting forum in the Turkish capital during the July 7-8 summit to strengthen the docking and interaction between the military alliance and the military industry.
The recent joint US-Israeli air strikes against Iran have further strengthened the sense of security urgency within NATO. NATO forces intercepted and shot down a ballistic missile launched from Iran and flying into Turkish airspace on Wednesday, highlighting the direct impact of the conflict in the Middle East on alliance border security.
One of the core directions of this summit is to accelerate the promotion of "making Europe itself the main guarantor of its own security." This topic has been vigorously promoted by the government led by US President Trump within the NATO framework. European allies hope to use this to demonstrate the latest progress towards a goal of increasing defense spending to 5% of gross domestic product, in response to continued pressure from Washington for Europe to assume more responsibility in collective defence.
However, a European diplomat noted that a shift in focus towards technology investment would not ease pressure on member states to meet the high level of military spending targets they had agreed to last year. Some diplomats admit that there is not much time left before the July summit, and there has begun to be obvious anxiety within the alliance about whether the performance of each country's military expenditure progress by then is "reflective" enough.
At the country-specific level, Spain and the Czech Republic have shown resistance to the intense military spending demands pushed by the Trump administration. Madrid said that even if military spending does not significantly increase to the level advocated by the United States, Spain can still meet necessary defense needs. Recently, U.S. President Trump threatened to suspend trade with Spain because Spain refused to provide military bases for the U.S. bombing campaign against Iran, and bilateral tensions suddenly escalated.
In the Czech Republic, the government of the billionaire Prime Minister Babiš was publicly criticized this week by Czech President Pavel, a former NATO general, for planning to slow down the pace of military expansion. The Czech Foreign Minister sought to go to Washington for consultations, hoping to gain more flexibility in implementing relevant spending targets.
"The level of defense spending is indeed important, and nothing can replace it." U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Colby said at the NATO Defense Ministers' Meeting last month, "But in the end, what really matters is what kind of actual combat power these resources are converted into." He emphasized that what the alliance needs is a high-readiness force, sufficient ammunition, a resilient logistics network, and an integrated command structure that can still operate on a large scale in a high-pressure environment.
Russia's war in Ukraine has made the characteristics of modern warfare particularly clear to Europe: battlefield victory or defeat is largely determined by the comprehensive use of technologies such as drones, satellites, and intelligent logistics systems. NATO officials pointed out that while maintaining the foundation of traditional heavy equipment, significantly increasing investment in new capabilities such as drones will help bridge the gap between Europe and the United States in some key areas and accelerate the overall transformation of Europe's security posture.
Admiral Pierre Vendier, NATO's top military commander, said "speed" would be a key element. He recalled that before the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the development and fielding cycle of certain weapons systems within the alliance took as long as two decades, but now NATO must see results in just a few years. "This is why we need a more flexible and adaptable combination of 'old hardware + new defense technology' to fill the capability gaps during the transition phase." Vendier told Bloomberg.
He added that NATO is conducting extensive research on how to "mix and match" different capabilities to enable countries to use limited resources more efficiently and hopefully reach the capability goals set by the alliance more quickly. As the United States gradually reduces its direct investment in European security, the sense of urgency within the alliance is rising, and NATO is now in what can be said to be a "race against time" to rearm.
At the same time, the recent outbreak of the war against Iran is believed to further strengthen Europe's rearmament drive, and many countries are concerned about the rising risk of conflict spillover. A senior EU official said urgent needs for air defense capabilities in particular have risen significantly and are quickly moving to the forefront of Europe's security agenda.
It is understood that NATO Secretary-General Rutte is expected to use "a huge amount of defense funds collectively invested by allies" as the starting point at the summit to set the overall tone for NATO's new security commitments, in which Germany's performance in increasing expenditures will be highlighted. People familiar with the matter said that NATO may also demonstrate phased results in achieving alliance goals through methods such as "capability ratio" in order to quantitatively present the progress of each country in security transformation to the outside world.