NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte during the Defence Industry Forum at the NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkiye on July 7, 2026. (Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
ANKARA, Turkey — NATO kicked off its annual Summit here by announcing a series of new air power deals and initiatives with a heavy focus on boosting surveillance and strategic airlift capabilities.
At a defense industry forum on the sidelines of the event today, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte rolled out the first wave of lucrative acquisitions, headlined by three major decisions: the procurement of up to 10 Swedish-made GlobalEye surveillance aircraft, initiation of a new multinational High Visibility Project for a fleet of Airbus A400M transport planes and the integration of five US-produced MQ-4C drones into the alliance’s ISR force.
Though exact contract values were not disclosed, Rutte said these projects are worth “billions of dollars” and will be “money well-spent.” This major aviation push is in step with a wider plan by allied nations to reportedly unveil tens of billions in new arms contracts during the two-day Summit. Today’s pledges come after US President Donald Trump, who arrived in Ankara to much fanfare, repeatedly called on NATO to invest more in its own defense.
