NATO aims to bring forward a decision on new targets for weapons and troop numbers to this summer, a top military official said on Monday, referring to the alliance's biggest overhaul since the Cold War as it faces what it sees as a growing threat from Russia.
The Western military and political alliance has been under pressure not only in the wake of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine but also internally, with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump calling on its members to spend much more on defence.
NATO defence ministers will seek to reach a deal on new capability targets a few weeks before their leaders meet in The Hague on June 24-26, the chief of the bloc's Military Committee, Dutch Admiral Rob Bauer, told Reuters in an interview.
"We're going to look for an agreement before the summit in the Hague," Bauer said, "to make sure that if there are any remaining problems, then that can be solved, and if necessary, by the leaders."
In 2023, NATO leaders agreed on thousands of pages of secret defence plans that detail for the first time since the Cold War how the alliance would respond to a Russian attack.
However, the documents exposed significant shortages in air defences and long-range missiles, troop numbers, ammunition, logistical headaches and a lack of secure digital communications on the battlefield.
These gaps are meant to be addressed with the new capability targets that were originally expected to be agreed on at a NATO defence ministers' meeting in the autumn of 2025.
The summit in The Hague will also discuss hiking NATO's existing military spending target of 2% of national GDP, with 3% being floated by some experts as one potential new target. Trump, who returns to the White House on Jan. 20, recently urged a 5% goal.
Bauer declined to specify a figure but said the idea of bringing its capability targets forward was "to make sure that everybody understands better the connection to the money" since the needs were made clear through the new defence plans.
"The delta is what you need to buy, and that is what the new capability targets will look at," the admiral said. "So basically it will help to make people understand why we need more than 2%."
During the Cold War, NATO allies on average spent 3%-6% of their national GDP on their militaries, according to Bauer.
"If we would have continued spending (as an alliance) what we spent in the early 90s, and that was at a level of 3%, we would have spent 8.6 trillion dollars more than we have now spent," Bauer said.
"That's basically the peace dividend that we now have to fund."
© Thomson Reuters 2025.
25 Comments
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JJE
Warmonger. Bauer is a shameless hypocrite typical of an offensive alliance that seeks to threaten and bully, particularly those smaller than it.
isabelle
What wars has he started, exactly?
Now, contrast that answer (which will be "zero") with Putin's actions in Ukraine, and then you will see where the rationale for these new targets comes from.
Zaphod
isabelle
"Putin's actions in Ukraine" are the result of neocon warmongering. But yes, those who only consume legacy media headlines and have zilch background information would not know that.
ClippetyClop
Necons who have no names and whose warmongering cannot be identified. Ghosts who leave no trace.
We can file this in the coping folder that Putin apologists have created to help them deal with cheering on his invasion.
It sits nicely alongside the 'Ukrainians are warmongers for defending themselves', and, 'Nazis are running Ukraine'.
Simple coping methods for simple people.
Fos
As we all know the United States played a key role in generating and perpetuating this terrible conflict in Ukraine since the Bucharest Nato meeting in 2008:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0epyHOz-Pbs
If there had been no decision to expand Nato into Ukraine the situation in Europe today and the European Russia relations would look fundamentally different and we would have a peaceful Europe. The catastrophic decision by George W. Bush and Condolezza Rice fro the Nato enlargement was totally ill conceived
ClippetyClop
As lots of you are deluding yourselves about.
Putin has invaded three times. How many more times does he have to invade before you all stop grabbing your feeble ankles for him? 4? 5?
Stick to blaming it on Wall Street or some other people who didn't actually invade anyone.
isabelle
Kremlin propaganda. Ukraine is a sovereign country that makes its own decisions, and it sees its future as part of free, democratic Europe, not as part of some failed Soviet Union remnant.
If Putin doesn't like Ukraine's domestic or foreign policy, that's tough. Nothing justifies his invasion: his actions violate international law and the Geneva Convention, and he is rightly wanted for war crimes.
isabelle
As we (that are not wearing Kremlin blinkers) all know, Putin generated and is perpetuating this terrible conflict in Ukraine.
Fos
isabelle
The only sovereign country here, who takes their independent decisions, I guess we all know, is the big military industrial complex. The same one that President Dwight Eisenhower warned against in 1961.
A little historical context:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEGpTu8sVKI
TaiwanIsNotChina
NATO did not expand into Ukraine. Simple as.
JJE
And NATO will never expand into Ukraine. Moscow took sensible countermeasures to prevent such a travesty occurring within its exclusive sphere of influence, especially with the illegal neo-fascist coup which was an underhanded attempt to expand. Simple as.
ClippetyClop
Killing half a million people is JJE's lovely idea of 'sensible'.
Imagine what he thinks an imprudent measure would be?
The weak of mind are easily impressed by mass murderers.
Fos
Just to put into context the role of United States of America when it comes to share of death, destabilizing power and violence in general, inside the North Atlantic alliance.
In 2023 the White House contributed 68% of Nato's total expenditure with over $910 billions. You can only imagine the data for 2024 after the catastrophe in the Middle East and the free ride in Ukraine.
As a reminder that originally Nato was the Acronym of North Atlantic Treaty Organization: Ukraine is in Eastern Europe, nothing to do with North Atlantic, not even part of EU. Go figure!
wallace
NATO expenditure is not counted by what each country spends on defense. Their agreement is for member countries to spend 2.5% of their GDP. That is a guideline and not a requirement.
The current leader of NATO is now calling for 3.7%.
https://www.nato.int/cps/is/natohq/topics_49198.htm
isabelle
In what world are murder, rape, torture, destruction, and child abduction "sensible countermeasures" for a sovereign country making its own decisions?
Ukraine is a sovereign country that makes its own decisions. Moscow doesn't get a veto on those decisions.
Putin's perceived "exclusive sphere of influence" is nothing more than a figment of his warped imagination (which is sadly magnified by his online minions).
...that never happened.
JJE
Good news. Moscow has announced it is willing to discuss security guarantees within a broader Eurasian framework in order to address larger geopolitical issues. They announced that includes a land now called Ukraine, and parts of that country which have not yet determined their status, unlike Crimea, Donbass, and Novorossiya (the Donbass republics) which have previously ceded.
It'll be interesting what Bauer, mentioned in the article, and his pals in Brussels have to say in relation to this positive and generous development. The head of NATO said yesterday that Russia is outproducing all of NATO by a factor of 3:1. In reality, it is higher.
isabelle
Ukraine has ceded precisely zero land to Russia. (Sorry, but fake Russian referendums with a gun to the electorate's head do not count.)
Since you are so keen on reminding everyone about "UN-recognized" countries, I will remind you that Ukraine -- including the Donbas and Crimea -- is UN-recognized. The UN recognizes precisely no part of it as Russia.
JJE
Which will be rectified upon any settlement to end the conflict, which will obviously include demarcated borders. Surely Bauer and NATO know Moscow has dismissed the idea of a temporary truce, arguing that freezing the conflict would allow Kyiv to regroup and prepare for further hostilities.
May not go down well in certain quarters, but that's the path forward.
Also, a tad ironic Bauer forgets to mention the only EU/NATO territory under threat is Greenland - from an alliance partner. Must have slipped his mind.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Moscow will control only what it has paid the price in bodies for and not an inch more.
Ukraine's revolution of dignity had nothing to do with NATO. The only real fascists are the ones pouring over the border from the east.
Again Moscow will have puppets only in areas for which it has paid the price in bodies for.
There is not need for Bauer to do anything but put such disgusting proposals in the garbage.
Clearly the US needs to spend more. There is no reason even the EU can't outproduce the rocket man in Moscow.
Moscow will accept a truce, a just peace, or russian bodies will continue to be expended.
NATO members are able to identify the real animals on the move.
TaiwanIsNotChina
The animals NATO is fighting do not care whether we consider the Mediterranean and Black Sea are connected to the Atlantic, which they are.
JJE
NATO needs to understand their little nasty experiment to turn that land into an offensive bulwark has failed and Moscow is firmly in the driver's seat. A glorified land-based admiral spouting thought bubbles and wish-lists of figures might make the cope a little easier for him, but it won't change anything - because it won't actually happen. He should look at the economic figures on the continent instead.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Russia has not paid the price in bodies to control anything but the 20% of Ukraine it has shamelessly stolen.
JJE
Watch that 20% figure go up like a hot air balloon. Plus, the south-east alone is a vast treasure trove of untapped resources and other bonus goodies. Bauer and others know that.
TaiwanIsNotChina
What's the timeline of terrorists reaching Kyiv?
Only the russian licks his chops at stolen booty.