NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said he would announce major new defense industry contracts on Tuesday (local time), the first day of the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey. [Getty Images]
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said he would announce major new defense industry contracts on Tuesday (local time), the first day of the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey. [Getty Images]

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has signaled that major new defense industry contracts will be announced at the alliance's summit in Ankara, Turkey, running Tuesday through Wednesday (local time).

Rutte held a press conference in Ankara on Monday and said, "We will announce new contracts worth tens of billions of dollars to provide the key equipment needed for deterrence and defense," according to AFP and Reuters. The announcements are set to be made at a defense industry forum on Tuesday, the summit's opening day.

The push for large-scale new NATO defense contracts is part of the alliance's response to the Donald Trump administration's persistent demands that NATO allies shoulder a greater share of defense spending. Trump has criticized European and other NATO members for free-riding on the American security umbrella and has pressed them to increase defense budgets, at times threatening to reduce US troop deployments in Europe or withdraw from the alliance altogether.

In response, NATO member states at last year's summit in The Hague, Netherlands, pledged to spend 5 percent of their gross domestic product on defense by 2035. At Monday's press conference, Rutte also emphasized that European NATO allies and Canada are already investing about 4 percent of their GDP in defense and security.

"There is already groundbreaking progress toward meeting the 5 percent spending target," Rutte said, adding that he expects each country to present "clear, concrete and credible plans" at the summit for achieving the goal.

The United States has also signaled it intends to review allies' progress on the 5 percent GDP defense spending commitment made at last year's summit. Matthew Whitaker, the US ambassador to NATO, said Sunday that "the Ankara summit will review progress on the Hague defense pledges."


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