Hello from Ankara for a special NATO summit edition of Foreign Policy’s Situation Report.
Here’s what’s on tap for the day: NATO spends big bucks, Ukraine wins more admirers, and Belgium’s defense minister discusses that World Cup victory.
U.S. President Donald Trump likes big numbers. He also doesn’t like NATO—as he has repeatedly made it known ahead of the alliance’s annual summit in Ankara, Turkey, which began on Tuesday.
So NATO put out some really big numbers just hours before Trump touched down in the Turkish capital, announcing defense investments worth “billions, literally billions” (in the words of NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte) by countries across the alliance. That includes a commitment to invest $40 billion in counter-drone capabilities over the next five years, investments in integrated air and missile defense worth more than $26 billion, and new strike capabilities worth $1.6 billion.
While several of the companies making those deals were from the United States—including established bigwigs Lockheed Martin and Raytheon as well as emerging bigwigs Palantir and Anduril—there were also several European companies such as Germany’s Rheinmetall, France’s Airbus, Sweden’s Saab, and Turkey’s Aselsan.
