NATO Defense Ministers held a meeting on October 21, at NATO Headquarters in Brussels.
During the meeting, NATO ministers discussed ways to strengthen the alliance’s deterrence and defense, and major adaptation of Alliance in a complex and competitive world.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated that NATO has put forward its plans to carry out significant improvements in the air defense and missile defense system as well as acquiring fifth-generation jets. It all comes after NATO’s plans to proceed with the task of deterring Russia in the region.
Stoltenberg told the reporters on Thursday, “Today, ministers endorsed a new overarching plan to defend our alliance in crisis and conflict, to make sure that we continue to have the right forces at the right place at the right time.” The statement came after the first day of NATO’s two-day defense ministerial meeting.
Secretary General Stoltenberg highlighted the following measures to respond to threats:
- improvements to joint air and missile defense systems;
- improving conventional capabilities of allies with fifth generation fighter jets;
- adapting joint exercises and intelligence sharing mechanisms;
- enhancing the effectiveness and readiness of allies’ nuclear deterrence capabilities.
The meeting between the Defense Ministers of the NATO alliance countries comes at a time when NATO is already working on its “Capability Targets” as a part of its planning cycle. According to the sources, the capability target planning cycle is focused on increasing air defense capabilities.
The alliance plans to acquire new and state of the art Patriot air defense system that is made by Raytheon Technologies, an American defense manufacturer. Eurosam’s SAMP/T is also on NATO’s buying list for the up gradation of air defense system.
While speaking with the media after ministerial meeting, Stoltenberg also added that all NATO members share the same vision of maintaining high-end defense capabilities by utilizing the emerging technologies.
Apart from the up gradation of air defense system, the NATO member defense ministers meeting also approved plans to increase excursive activities, intelligence sharing as well as mutual cooperation to meet mutually agreed targets.
During the meeting, NATO Defense Ministers also agreed upon a new overarching plan to defend the Alliance in crisis and conflict, and equip the Alliance with the “right forces and capabilities, at the right place and at the right time”, in order to defend against various threats.
The main concerns of the meeting were reviewing progress in NATO’s response to the growing threat from Russia’s missile program, and joint mechanism to monitor international terrorist groups in Afghanistan and the region.
