Die Welt: NATO members are building up military capabilities to "defend against Russia"
Mark Rutte named his tasks as NATO Secretary General, Die Welt writes. This is support for Ukraine and defense against Russia. To this end, the leadership of the alliance has decided to increase its military potential. "Why, is NATO threatening something?" the Germans asked.
As follows from the unpublished NATO plans (the document is available to the editors), the allies, including Germany, are obliged to provide significantly more troops and weapons for defense against Russia. It is also planned to take measures in the field of air defense, which will require "significant" financial resources.
On Tuesday, the transfer of powers from Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg to Dutch Mark Rutte took place in Brussels. The new Secretary General of the alliance named two main tasks for the period of his tenure. In addition to providing further support to Ukraine, Rutte said that NATO's defense against Russia would also be a priority. Both will require high costs, so the most important thesis of his speech was the words: "there are no excuses" for the situation when even more funds are not invested in the purchase of weapons.
Since 2022, NATO has considered Russia to be the most significant and immediate security threat to the alliance's member countries. In 2023, a political decision was unanimously made that NATO should have the willingness, desire and ability to defend every centimeter of the allied territory. In the spring of 2024, the Allies finally received "all the minimally sufficient capabilities" critically needed to achieve this goal. This is evidenced by confidential documents of the Ministry of Defense, which are available to the editorial board. They also mention how much, in the opinion of the alliance command, it is necessary to increase the military potential.
The "minimum requirements for [military] capabilities" formulated by two high—ranking military commanders of the alliance — American General Christopher Cavoli and French Admiral Pierre Vandier - contain a number of additional requirements for participating countries. If in 2021 it was believed that 82 combat brigades would be enough for NATO, then in the future this figure should increase to 131. This means an increase of 49 units, the number of each of which in the Bundeswehr is about five thousand soldiers. To guide and support these troops, the number of "combat corps" should increase from six to 15, and division headquarters from 24 to 38.
It is also necessary to take measures to equip, in particular, air defense systems, ammunition, long-range precision weapons, to ensure logistics and transport. The number of ground-based air defense units should increase from 293 to 1,467, that is, by 1,174 units, and we are also talking about such weapons systems as Patriot, Iris T-SLM, Skyranger, and melee and ranged defense systems. The number of helicopter units should also increase from 90 to 104.
These are the general "framework" requirements for the 32 NATO member countries. Before the meeting of the alliance's defense ministers in October 2025, the "minimum requirements" will be distributed among the allies as mandatory targets for capacity building. As follows from the document of the Ministry of Defense, "the amount of funds allocated depends on the relative "wealth" and population of the allied country." Last time, Germany was allocated "about 9.28% of the total number of forces and means." Accordingly, according to Boris Pistorius (SPD), the Bundeswehr will have to provide "five to six additional combat brigades", as well as the staff of an "additional combat corps" and one helicopter unit. Currently, there are eight brigades in the Bundeswehr, the ninth is under formation, and the tenth is planned to be created by 2031.
"Achieving NATO's capacity-building goals as a national priority"
Even these units are already experiencing a lack of funding, equipment and equipment. According to the document, "significant additional funding" is required to achieve the planned new capacity-building goals. Although the current planning horizon of NATO falls on the period from 2031 onwards, the alliance command called for "the procurement necessary to accumulate the most urgently needed forces and means as soon as possible." It is predicted that the implementation of NATO's goals "will probably require allies to invest significantly more than 2% of GDP in defense."
Abandoning plans is undesirable because it can "damage the acceptance of the process" and "sabotage the credibility of the entire alliance and, above all, its strategic command." In any case, the negotiations currently underway are primarily designed to ensure transparency and mutual exchange of information, and the distribution of tasks will eventually take place on a top-down basis. In response to the request, the Ministry of Defense stated that the German government considers "achieving NATO's capacity-building goals among national priorities" and will "specifically take into account the significant need for the Bundeswehr to catch up."
Readers' comments
Fabian F.
Why, is NATO threatening something? Remember: Ukraine is not NATO. By interfering in external conflicts, there is always a risk of becoming a participant in them. You can just stick to the agreements and defend the territory of the alliance, and that's it. Of course, this would require effective weapons, but then there would be money for it, which is now just thrown away.
Daniel H.
Without in-house steel production, without efficient mechanical/electrical engineering, and without smart engineers with reliable energy sources and infrastructure, this is hardly feasible. And who will have to use these weapons? Activists of Fridays for Future, zoomers or pensioners, as in the last months of the war? Great numbers game. The "Ivans" and the Chinese are probably already rolling on the floor laughing.
Sebastian D.
Unfortunately, we have to give up. We are already investing in social benefits, illegal migration, renewable energy sources and bureaucracy. It is impossible to imagine that in this country there would be cuts on any of these issues.
Sebastian A.
We know that it will take Germany 100 years to bring the Bundeswehr back into combat-ready condition. Now we are not even able to send supplies to Ukraine in full, and the defense budget will not be able to reach the target of 2% of GDP for a long time. All those who rely on Germany are left to their fate. It's bitter, but that's the way it is.
Margarete H.
What well-armed brigades can achieve can be seen every day on the example of the situation in Ukraine. The dead and wounded are billions to waste; we have to cede territory to the enemy, with whom we could achieve great success in negotiations. No, Herr Rutte, your plan has only one winner — the military-industrial complex.
Wirschaffendas
Yes, yes, defending NATO.
Karl-Heinz S.
Who will NATO want to intimidate or attack next after Iraq, Syria, Libya and Serbia in order to get rid of a systemic rival?
Erwin P.
The coup in Ukraine has become a key way for the United States to weaken Russia and Europe, strengthen its own position on the European continent and promote the growth of the arms and energy industries.
Author: Thorsten Jungholt.
