Allied Heads of State and Government endorsed a new NATO Industrial Capacity Expansion pledge at the Washington Summit on Wednesday (10 July 2024). The Pledge aims to accelerate defence industrial capacity and production across the Alliance, and underscores the strategic importance of transatlantic defence cooperation.
At the meeting, Allied leaders reaffirmed that a robust defence industry is indispensable to keep NATO's deterrence and defence strong, and to continue to support Ukraine. The Pledge includes long-term actions such as developing national plans to strengthen industrial capacity, accelerating multinational procurement, enhancing the implementation of standards to increase interoperability, removing barriers to trade and investment, and securing critical supply chains.
The Allies also pledged to deliver critical capabilities to Ukraine rapidly, with an initial focus on munitions and air and missile defence systems.
The new Pledge builds on the Defence Production Action Plan agreed at the Vilnius Summit in July 2023. Since then, Allies have made significant progress in updating national defence strategies, streamlining procurement processes and investing in industrial production. In January, European NATO Allies agreed to jointly buy up to 1,000 Patriot missiles. In the margins of the Summit, the NATO support and procurement agency (NSPA) has placed an order for Stinger anti-aircraft missiles worth $700 million.
Over the next five years, NATO Allies across Europe and Canada plan to acquire thousands of air defence and artillery systems, 850 modern aircraft, mostly 5th generation F-35s as well as a substantial number of high-end capabilities.
