Since 2017, European NATO allies and Canada have added more than $1.2 trillion in cumulative defense investment — and the alliance now faces pressure to show that money is producing capability, not just commitments. Since The Hague summit alone, allies have committed nearly $139 billion in new defense spending, with roughly half flowing into American-made equipment. The Ankara summit is the next accountability moment.
The Hague Pledge and What It Demands
At The Hague, NATO allies made a historic pledge to spend five percent of GDP annually on core defense and security-related capabilities. The target was framed not as a floor but as a mandate to shift the conventional defense of Europe to European forces, with the United States providing more focused support — including its nuclear umbrella. Threats cited in the source driving the urgency: drone swarms, hybrid attacks, and hypersonic missiles. A weak link anywhere, the argument runs, degrades collective security everywhere.
American Defense Orders at the Center
Allies currently hold more than $60 billion in active orders with American defense companies, and that figure continues to grow. Of the $139 billion committed since The Hague, approximately half has been directed at equipment only the United States produces at scale — underscoring how allied demand is already cycling back into American industrial capacity. The intended logic: allied demand drives American production, American production drives allied capability, allied capability drives deterrence.
The Industrial Bottleneck
The source identifies factory floors, not conference tables, as the defining front. Expanded capacity on both sides of the Atlantic requires long-term contracts — which Congress has now authorized — to give American defense companies the certainty needed to scale production. New contracting pathways for smaller, innovative businesses are also cited as a requirement. The call is for tighter partnerships between American and European industry to develop, produce, and sustain equipment jointly.
What Ankara Must Deliver
The Ankara summit is expected to produce concrete milestones, measurable capability targets, and enforcement mechanisms — the operational infrastructure The Hague mandate did not include. The burden-sharing picture described in the source remains uneven: some allies are carrying more than others, and the United States has indicated it will continue pressing every member to honor its commitments. The end goal described is an alliance that can fight and win with Europeans in the lead — equal allies, not dependents — capable enough that adversaries conclude the cost of aggression exceeds any potential gain.