‘Quantum leap needed’: NATO calls for 400% defence boost

London: NATO members need to increase their air and missile defences by 400 per cent to counter the threat from Russia, the head of the military alliance plans to say on Monday.

Secretary-General Mark Rutte will say during a visit to London that NATO must take a “quantum leap in our collective defence” to face growing instability and threats, according to extracts released by NATO before Rutte’s speech.

Rutte is due to meet UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer at 10 Downing St. ahead of a NATO summit in the Netherlands where the 32-nation alliance is likely to commit to a big hike in military spending.

Like other NATO members, the UK has been reassessing its defence spending since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Starmer has pledged to increase British defence spending to 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product by 2027 and to 3 per cent by 2034. Rutte has proposed a target of 3.5 per cent of economic output on military spending and another 1.5 per cent on “defence-related expenditure” such as roads, bridges, airfields and sea ports. He said last week he is confident the alliance will agree to the target at its summit in The Hague on June 24-25.

At the moment, 22 of the 32 member countries meet or exceed NATO’s current 2 per cent target. The new target would meet a demand by President Donald Trump that member states spend 5 per cent of gross domestic product on defence. Trump has long questioned the value of NATO and complained that the US provides security to European countries that don’t contribute enough. Rutte plans to say in a speech at the Chatham House think tank in London that NATO needs thousands more armoured vehicles.