Russia Is Freaked: NATO in Europe Is Spending $380,000,000,000 on Defense
Defense spending among European NATO allies has surged by 18%, reaching 2.71% of GDP, underscoring their commitment to bolstering Ukraine's fight against Russia.
What You Need to Know: NATO allies are significantly ramping up their support for Ukraine. Denmark and the Netherlands recently delivered F-16 fighters, with more aircraft pledged by Belgium, Norway, and France. France is also preparing Dassault Mirage 2000-5 fighters for delivery in 2025.
-In addition to air support, NATO members have provided tanks like Germany’s Leopard 2, the UK’s Challenger 2, and the U.S.’s M1 Abrams, with Spain leading in tank contributions.
-Defense spending among European NATO allies has surged by 18%, reaching 2.71% of GDP, underscoring their commitment to bolstering Ukraine's fight against Russia.
NATO is Stepping Up Aid to Ukraine
A common complaint from some American lawmakers – and their supporters – is that Europe is sitting back while the United States is alone in providing aid to Ukraine in its war against Russia. Though the U.S. military support has indeed eclipsed that of other nations, many NATO members have pulled their weight.
This week, Denmark confirmed that the first six F-16 Fighting Falcons have been delivered to the Ukrainian Air Force, while additional aircraft are expected to arrive in the coming months. The Netherlands also announced that it has provided the final two of 18 pledged F-16s, and that the fighters arrived at a NATO training facility in Romania.
Ukrainian pilots and ground personnel are already in the Eastern European nation, where they are being trained to fly and maintain multirole combat aircraft. Belgium and Norway are providing F-16s to aid Kyiv's war effort, and those aircraft are on track for delivery next year as well. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had long called for the F-16s, arguing that the fighters would greatly enhance his nation's air defenses while it would bolster the Ukrainian military's ability to launch a counter-offensive.
The American-made F-16 won't be the only Western fighter that could soon be operated by the Ukrainian Air Force, as France announced last month that an undisclosed number of Dassault Mirage 2000-5 multirole fighters will be transferred in the first half of 2005. As previously reported, the French Air Force is currently modifying the jets to enhance air-to-ground combat capabilities and electronic warfare systems, aligning them with the needs of the ongoing conflict, which has largely lacked air-to-air combat scenarios.
More Tanks
In addition to aircraft, multiple NATO partners have provided main battle tanks (MBTs), infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), and armored personnel carriers (APCs). The MBTs sent to aid Kyiv have included Germany's Leopard 2, the UK's Challenger 2, and the U.S.-made M1 Abrams.
Berlin, London, and Washington have respectively sent a significant number of tanks, but Madrid has been the leading provider of MBTs to date – as the Spanish Army already provided a total of 29 Leopard 2A4 models from its fleet.
NATO Defense Spending on the Rise
NATO defense spending has steadily increased over the past decade, but Russia's unprovoked war in Ukraine has resulted in a massive increase of 18% across the international military alliance. Together the member nations are spending 2.71 percent of GDP on defense.
"In 2024, NATO Allies in Europe will invest a combined total of 380 billion US dollars in defence. For the first time, this amounts to 2% of their combined GDP," former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said last February, adding, "We are making real progress: European Allies are spending more. However, some Allies still have a ways to go. Because we agreed at the Vilnius Summit that all Allies should invest 2%, and that 2% is a minimum."
Author Experience and Expertise: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].
Image Credit: Creative Commons and/or Shutterstock.
From the Vault
