NATO leaders wrapped up their two-day summit in Ankara touting billions of dollars in new defence contracts and a historic surge in military spending as proof the alliance is finally delivering on promises made to President Donald Trump, even as the US leader continued to air grievances over allied support during this year’s war with Iran.
Secretary General Mark Rutte framed the gathering as evidence that member states are following through on commitments made a year ago at NATO’s summit in The Hague, where allies agreed to raise defence spending to 5 per cent of gross domestic product by 2035.
“One year ago in The Hague, allies committed to invest a lot more in defence… And here we are now, one year later in Ankara, already delivering results,” Rutte said, unveiling a package of investments that included $40 billion earmarked for counter-drone capabilities over five years, more than $26 billion for integrated air and missile defence, and additional strike-capability contracts worth $1.6 billion.
The announcements, delivered alongside a promotional video at the summit’s Defence Industry Forum, drew business from a wide roster of American and European contractors, including Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Palantir and Anduril in the United States, alongside Germany’s Rheinmetall, France’s Airbus, Sweden’s Saab and Turkiye’s Aselsan.
Trump Renews Complaints Even as Allies Step Up
Despite the show of financial commitment, Trump continued to voice frustration with individual member states throughout his time in Ankara, singling out countries he said had failed to support US and Israeli operations against Iran earlier this year.
“Italy turned us down. And Germany turned us down, and France turned us down. And it’s okay. But, you know, why are we spending hundreds of billions of dollars, and they’re not there for us?” Trump told reporters.
Rutte sought to reframe the alliance’s cohesion in less transactional terms, using a soccer analogy to argue that no single ally could carry the burden of collective defence alone.
Atlantic Council analyst Torrey Taussig said the scale of European financial commitments this year was substantial, even as many allied officials privately continue to question whether Washington would fully honour its mutual-defence obligations if put to the test.
A Broader Push on Air Defence, Drones and Ukraine
NATO’s formal summit declaration went further than the industry-forum announcements, citing more than $50 billion in new procurement commitments spanning precision strike capabilities, integrated air and missile defence, uncrewed systems and what the alliance described as an interoperable transatlantic warfighting cloud built around advanced artificial intelligence models, according to Al Jazeera’s review of the document.
Ukraine’s ongoing war with Russia also featured prominently in the summit’s outcomes, with the alliance pledging 70 billion euros, or roughly $80 billion, in military assistance, equipment and training for Kyiv, along with a commitment to sustain at least equivalent support levels through 2027.
Rutte described the shift as transformative for the alliance’s long-term posture. “What this leads to is a NATO which is truly transformed,” he said, adding that the buildup would leave European allies far more capable of working alongside the United States to protect the security of the transatlantic community.
Strikes on Iran and Tensions With Individual Allies
The summit’s final declaration also addressed the deteriorating situation between the United States and Iran, calling on Tehran to respect freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz and reiterating that Iran must never be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon. Rutte defended a fresh round of U.S. strikes on Iranian targets carried out during the summit, telling reporters the retaliation was “absolutely necessary” given Iran’s attacks on commercial shipping in the strait.
Trump used his time in Ankara to single out other allies for criticism as well, repeatedly describing Spain’s defence posture as inadequate and noting that, unlike the United Kingdom, Madrid had declined to authorise American use of its military bases during the Iran conflict. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, for his part, maintained throughout the summit that the UK would not be drawn directly into the war.
Turkey Rewarded With Sanctions Relief and F-35 Talks
Trump’s warm rapport with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, on display throughout the summit’s elaborate welcome ceremonies, translated into concrete policy gestures as well. Trump announced that Washington would lift sanctions imposed on Turkey in 2020 over its purchase of a Russian air defence system, and said he was open to allowing the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Ankara, a program from which Turkey had previously been barred.
Trump also addressed the war in Ukraine, telling reporters he had spoken with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ahead of the summit about ending the conflict, which began in February 2022. “I think they both want to make a deal. It’s too bad it took so long,” Trump said, according to Reuters, adding that he expected further developments soon.
A Summit of High Stakes and Modest Certainty
Analysts described this year’s gathering as a high-stakes exercise in reassurance, with allies working simultaneously to demonstrate seriousness about defence investment and to manage an unpredictable American president whose commitment to the alliance’s mutual-defence principle remains a source of persistent anxiety among European officials. As the summit closed, NATO’s leadership expressed confidence that the scale of new financial commitments would help cement the alliance’s credibility going into a period of continued global instability, even as questions about long-term American engagement remained largely unresolved.
