By Andrew Gray and Sabine Siebold
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – NATO boss Mark Rutte sharply criticised arms companies inside the U.S.-led alliance on Wednesday, saying they were producing too little, charging too much and delivering too slowly as NATO seeks to support Ukraine and boost its defences against Russia.
With NATO countries bracing for renewed pressure from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to raise their defence spending, Rutte also said the current target of 2% of economic output would not be enough to deter attacks in the future.
Rutte did not say whether he thought 3% should be the new target, as Trump has insisted. However, he said NATO would not only have to spend more on defence but also get better value.
“We are producing not enough, at too high prices, and delivery is too slow, so defence industry needs to put in more shifts, needs to put in more production lines,” said Rutte, NATO’s secretary general and former Dutch prime minister.
“We cannot have a situation where we just pay more for the same and we see large kickbacks to the shareholders,” he told reporters after a two-day meeting of NATO foreign ministers at alliance headquarters in Brussels.
Rutte said some NATO countries were turning to South Korean arms firms because “our own defence companies are not producing at the rate we need”.
Countries across the transatlantic military alliance have increased defence spending substantially in recent years, especially following Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
NATO estimates 23 of its 32 members will meet its goal of spending 2% of GDP on defence this year – up from only three countries who met the target when it was set in 2014.
“I believe strongly – and I know many other allies believe strongly – that 2% is simply not enough. It is simply not enough if longer term, we want to keep our deterrence at the level that it is now,” Rutte said.
“Now it is okay and we can now defend ourselves, and nobody should try to attack us. But I want that to stay the same in four or five years,” he added.
(Reporting by Andrew Gray and Sabine Siebold; Editing by Gareth Jones)
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