NATO Approves Largest Defense Upgrade Since Cold War

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has approved its most ambitious military modernization program since the Cold War, aiming to bolster its defense capabilities in the face of what it describes as a growing Russian threat.

The comprehensive plan includes a significant expansion of long-range weapon systems, ground forces, and air defense capacities.

According to the German Press Agency, the new initiative prioritizes the strengthening of deterrence and collective defense mechanisms over the coming years. Air defense, in particular, has been given strategic emphasis. The decision was finalized during a high-level meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels.

The defense blueprint introduces new capability targets and outlines specific contributions required from each member state to support NATO’s updated deterrence and joint defense objectives.

The program is grounded in revised defense strategies, which consider recent intelligence assessments indicating that Russia may be capable of engaging in military conflict with NATO within a few years, despite its ongoing war in Ukraine.

While detailed components of the plan remain classified to preserve NATO’s strategic unpredictability, officials confirmed that capability demands have increased by approximately 30 percent compared to previous levels.

The enhanced targets also reflect an urgent need to address current capability gaps and align with NATO’s updated defense planning standards.

The issue of defense spending has been a key point of discussion. Former US President Donald Trump had repeatedly pushed NATO allies to increase their military spending to 5 percent of GDP. Speaking on Thursday, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth stated that NATO members are nearing a consensus to adopt the 5 percent spending threshold. He noted that most allies have already exceeded the 2 percent benchmark and are moving closer to a new shared target to be formalized in The Hague later this month.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has proposed a compromise: allocating 3.5 percent of national GDP to core military capabilities and an additional 1.5 percent to defense-related infrastructure and security activities. Hegseth emphasized that the combined 5 percent target reflects a serious commitment and that every member country can scale up accordingly.