NATO members made progress in 2016 toward increasing their military budgets, but most still have work to do to achieve a goal to spend 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense, according to the alliance’s new annual report.
In 2016, 23 of NATO’s 28 members boosted their military spending, and Canada and European allies added a total of about $10 billion in U.S. dollars to their defense budgets, the alliance said. But only five allies – Estonia, Greece, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States — met or exceeded the 2 percent goal in 2016.
“It is realistic that all allies should reach this goal,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters at alliance headquarters in Brussels March 13. “All allies have agreed to it at the highest level and it can be done.”
Stoltenberg, former prime minister of Norway, noted that European allies together spent 2 percent of their GDP on defense as recently as 2000. He said he is encouraged that Romania plans to reach 2 percent in 2017 and that Latvia and Lithuania expect to do so in 2018.
In 2014, NATO members pledged to reach 2 percent within a decade. They also agreed to spend at least 20 percent of their defense budgets on major new equipment within a decade. According to the new report, 10 members met the 20 percent guideline for equipment in 2016, up from eight in 2015.
The report’s release comes as the Trump administration pushes European allies to shoulder a greater share of the transatlantic defense burden. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis reiterated the administration’s position during a February visit to NATO headquarters.
NATO said the alliance improved its capabilities on several fronts in 2016. The Lockheed Martin [LMT] Aegis Ashore missile defense site in Romania became operational; NATO received its first modernized Boeing [BA] E-3A Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) airplane, equipped with a glass cockpit; nine allies signed a memorandum of understanding to acquire air-to-ground precision-guided munitions; and Poland and Turkey agreed to cooperate on airborne escort jamming capabilities. In 2016, NATO conducted 107 exercises and was associated with 139 national exercises.
On cyber defense, Stoltenberg said the alliance is “making good progress.” The alliance dealt with an average of 500 cyber incidents a month in 2016, a 60 percent jump from 2015.
“We have recognized cyber as an operational domain, alongside land, sea and air, and allies have committed to improve their national cyber defenses,” he said.
In 2017, the first of NATO’s five Northrop Grumman [NOC] RQ-4B Global Hawk Block 40 unmanned ground-surveillance planes is expected to fly from the United States to its new home in Sigonella, Italy.