Rutte gathers Europe's biggest arms makers before NATO summit, FT says
Photo: NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (Getty Images)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will meet with representatives of leading European defense companies next week to discuss increasing investment and production capacity, according to the Financial Times.
Rutte will meet with executives of major European defense firms in Brussels to urge them to act quickly and lay the groundwork for key announcements at NATO's annual summit in Ankara in July.
Ahead of the meeting, companies were asked to provide information on major investments and their ability to scale up production, with a particular focus on areas such as air defense and long-range missiles.
The publication notes that Rutte regularly meets with top European defense industry leaders, but bringing together representatives from such a large number of companies at one meeting is unusual, industry sources said.
His message on what the Alliance expects from these groups also highlights NATO's urgent need to demonstrate industrial growth at the leaders' meeting in Turkey.
Major arms manufacturers on the continent, including Rheinmetall, Safran, Airbus, Saab, MBDA and Leonardo, are expected to send representatives to the meeting.
NATO wants European defense producers to help meet US President Donald Trump's demands for increased defense spending.
Recall that NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte previously proposed that Alliance countries begin allocating 0.25% of their GDP annually to Ukraine. However, some members have already opposed the initiative.
Rutte also said that the experience of the war in Ukraine shows the need to accelerate defense development and move away from perfect solutions toward systems that can be produced quickly and used in combat conditions.
