NATO Chief: Defense Spending Is Up, But Weapons Production Is Now the Bottleneck

Mark Rutte, Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), stated that while the trend of increasing defense spending among member states is spreading, the focus must now shift to securing actual weapons and combat capabilities.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on July 5 (local time), Secretary General Rutte said, "A year ago, it was all about promises (to increase defense spending)," adding, "This year, it is about delivering on those promises."
In the interview, conducted ahead of the NATO summit opening in Ankara, Turkey, on July 7, he warned that the defense industry is facing limits in production capacity, unable to keep up with surging demand.
As of last year, defense spending by NATO member states excluding the United States reached 574 billion dollars, a 20 percent increase from the previous year.
Of this, Germany's spending surged 24 percent to 114 billion dollars, and the country plans to expand it to three times the 2024 level by 2029.
While defense spending is rising rapidly, leading to 300 billion dollars in orders already flooding U.S. defense firms, critics point out that there is a time lag in deployment because the industry's overall production capacity cannot keep pace with the increased demand.
Secretary General Rutte identified two causes for this bottleneck: the consumption of weapons and ammunition due to the war in Ukraine and the war in Iran, and constraints in the ability to recruit and train new personnel to expand combat power.
The fragmentation caused by NATO member states individually developing similar weapons to protect their own domestic industries was also pointed out as a problem.
The concern is that such inefficient spending could lead to the neglect of critical areas such as air defense systems, precision strike missiles, and the establishment of integrated intelligence and systems.
"Overcoming these challenges is the key issue we need to discuss next week," said Secretary General Rutte, adding that since funds are flowing in and the defense industrial base is expanding, the pace must be accelerated further.
He explained that a key lesson from the war in Ukraine is "not just producing a lot of drones, but having the capacity to produce drones," because "the technology itself is constantly adapting and changing every two to three weeks."
During the summit, NATO plans to host an industry forum inviting defense company executives and government officials to discuss ways to increase weapons production.
NATO expects that multi-billion dollar contracts, preliminary agreements, and joint production deals will be announced at the event.
(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.