NATO showcases big arms deals in Ankara before summit with Trump

ANKARA - Leaders of the NATO military alliance began unveiling arms deals worth tens of billions of dollars in Turkey on July 7, driving home the message that they are heeding US calls to spend more to defend Europe before a summit with US President Donald Trump.

To upbeat tunes and slick videos at a defence industry forum in the capital Ankara, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte announced a series of initiatives, inviting a roll-call of representatives from NATO members to join the stage. The sum of various deal values was projected onto a screen.

He called for a defence industry “revolution” across the alliance, warning over Russia’s massive military spending as well as China, North Korea and Iran.

“We don’t have the luxury of time. We need capabilities now to ensure we remain ready. The security situation demands it,” Rutte said. “The hum of machinery must become a roar.”

It was a rallying cry for Western arms firms to ramp up investment to increase capacity, and for governments to place long-term orders and create the conditions for companies to thrive.

Europe’s defence sector has often been criticised as fragmented and saddled with red tape and rivalries between companies and countries. That has left Europe more reliant on purchases of weapons from the United States.

Weak economic growth and the need to maintain generous state welfare provisions have also made defence spending a tougher sell in Europe.

The deals, which had been mostly kept under wraps to make a splash at the summit, included European countries buying surveillance drones from US company Northrop Grumman, and NATO buying planes from Sweden’s Saab.

Saab shares were the biggest gainers in Europe, up more than 5 per cent as investors bet on the company benefiting from European rearmament. Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock.

US defence company Lockheed Martin and Germany’s Rheinmetall signed a draft deal to jointly produce ATACMS missiles in Germany, a move that would mark the first non-US manufacture of the short-range ballistic missile.

The move followed growing concern in Washington about the capacity of US weapons manufacturers to meet demand, as both the war on Iran and the war in Ukraine depleted US arms stocks.

Rutte also said NATO allies will invest more than US$40 billion (S$52 billion) in the next five years in their anti-drone capabilities.

The announcements follow Trump’s frequent criticism of Europe for insufficient defence contributions and over-reliance on the US to defend them through NATO, which has protected the continent since the early years of the Cold War.

Trump reinforced the message in a video previewing his visit on his Truth Social platform, urging Europe to spend more on its own defence.

Shift on F-35 planes to Turkey

Trump arrived in Ankara to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and join fellow leaders of the military alliance for the summit, which begins with a dinner on the evening of July 7.

Rutte said on July 6 that Europeans had made “staggering” increases in defence spending in part owing to fears of Russia, which have surged since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and also after Trump’s “extremely forceful” encouragement.

According to Rutte, NATO’s European members and Canada spent US$90 billion more on defence in real terms in 2025 than in 2024, to reach a total of more than US$570 billion.

In a major potential shift, Trump is also expected to tell Erdogan that he is prepared to allow the country to rejoin the F-35 stealth fighter programme, sources told Reuters, an issue that has long been a sore point in bilateral ties.

Washington had imposed sanctions and removed Turkey from the F-35 fighter jet programme after Turkey’s 2019 acquisition of the Russian S-400 air defence system.

Iran war prompted Trump to revive criticism of NATO

Tensions within NATO have deepened since the US attacked Iran in February. Trump has repeatedly criticised NATO members for insufficient support in the conflict, threatening to quit the alliance or disregard its collective defence pact.

European officials insist they largely honoured commitments to let the US use their airspace and bases in their countries, despite not having been consulted about a war that roiled their economies and was deeply unpopular in Europe.

The US has also announced troop withdrawals from Europe, cut the forces it assigns to NATO’s defence plans, and launched a six-month review of its military presence on the continent.

European officials say they are braced for a repeat of some of Trump’s recent criticism and cannot be sure of a positive outcome. There is also Trump’s volatile relationship with some leaders, most recently seen in a feud with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

NATO members are expected to reaffirm support for Ukraine and pledge assistance of €70 billion (S$103 billion) in 2026.

Underscoring the stakes, Russia hammered the Kyiv region with missiles and drones on July 6, killing at least 28 people and exposing Ukraine’s critical shortage of US-made air-defence interceptors. REUTERS