Outgoing NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, left, speaks as Secretary of State Antony Blinken listens during a meeting, Tuesday, July 9, 2024, at the State Department in Washington. (Stephanie Scarbrough/AP)
WASHINGTON — NATO allies will for the first time pledge this week to develop plans to strengthen their defense industry capacities as the military alliance readies for a protracted war in Ukraine that could last another four years.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the U.S. is investing $75 billion in its defense industrial base but is relying on the collective pledges to prioritize the production of the most vital defense equipment needed for a potential conflict.
“NATO can, NATO will and NATO is rising to meet this challenge without disturbing or distorting our national economies the way Russia has,” he told industry leaders gathered for a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event Tuesday.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan speaks at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event Tuesday, July 9, 2024, in Washington. (Joe Gromelski/Special to Stars and Stripes)
A senior NATO official speaking to reporters at the NATO summit in Washington said Russia continues to maintain a significant advantage over Ukraine in munitions, equipment and personnel.
Russia is recruiting 30,000 troops each month and has mobilized a war economy that will allow it to prosecute the war in Ukraine for another three to four years, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“[Russian President] Vladimir Putin still thinks that time is on his side. He is still banking on Russian advantages, his population and resources,” the official said. “I would say, as a nearly lifelong career intelligence professional, we should not underestimate Russia in this regard.”
Sullivan said Tuesday that Russia is bolstering its war machine with help from China, North Korea and Iran. China has yet to provide the Kremlin with weapons, but it supplies microelectronics that are used in cruise missile production.
“Today, Russia’s defense industry is on a wartime footing,” Sullivan said. “They’re attempting to undertake the most significant defense expansion since the height of the Cold War.”
The West is working to catch up.
Outgoing NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance’s defense spending threshold of 2% of gross domestic product is now a floor rather than a ceiling. Of the alliance’s 32 members, 23 meet that spending goal.
Stoltenberg said the defense industrial pledge that allies will sign this week will push members to spend more and will make the industry stronger, more innovative and capable of producing at scale. He also emphasized the importance of collectively signing “big contracts” for the long term, pointing to a new $670 million contract for 940 Stinger missiles for Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.
The shoulder-fired Stinger missile was one of the first weapons the U.S. sent to Ukraine after Russia’s invasion in 2022.
“There is no way to provide strong defense without a strong defense industry,” Stoltenberg said.
Kathleen Hicks, the deputy defense secretary, speaks at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event Tuesday, July 9, 2024, in Washington. (Joe Gromelski/Special to Stars and Stripes)
Kathleen Hicks, the deputy defense secretary, echoed the need for more large-scale, multinational procurement and stressed the urgency of accelerating the growth of NATO’s collective industrial capacity and production.
“Adding more shifts on current production lines is not enough. We need to add more lines, build more factories and facilities, and bring more producers into the fold,” she said. “Make no mistake. Expanding transatlantic defense industrial capacity is not a nice-to-do. It is a need-to-do, a must-do for the NATO alliance.”
