NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, speaking at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Defense Summit in Prague, stressed that Europe’s current military capacity is insufficient to ensure security.
Rutte warned that Russia allocates around 40% of its national budget to the war economy and plans to produce 1,500 tanks, 3,000 armored vehicles, and hundreds of Iskander missiles this year. “This trend will not change anytime soon. Russia will remain a destabilizing power in the long term,” he said.
He recalled that at the NATO summit held in The Hague in June, member states agreed to allocate 5% of their GDP to defense by 2035, with at least 3.5% going directly to military needs.
“To meet NATO’s capability targets, we must increase the number of air and missile defense systems fivefold. We also need thousands of tanks and armored vehicles, millions of artillery shells, more UAVs, and enhanced cyber and space capabilities,” Rutte emphasized.
He added that Europe’s artillery production capacity has increased sixfold over the past two years, praising the Czech Republic for its leading role in this effort.
“Our goal is not to provoke but to protect,” Rutte said, underlining that strengthening the defense industry not only boosts security but also contributes to economic growth and job creation.
