NATO to overhaul its defense industry after Ukraine war highlights shortcomings | Semafor

NATO pledged to ramp up its defense industry on Wednesday, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has created a vast demand for more supplies in the war-ravaged country and across the alliance that has outstripped NATO’s ability to produce weapons and ammunition.

“We were not able to produce the kind of capabilities in the kind of volumes that we need either for our own deterrence and defense or to support Ukraine,” one senior NATO official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Defense Industrial Pledge commits NATO members to ensuring that members do not put up trade barriers on the alliance’s defense market, that they purchase weapons jointly whenever possible, and work closer with Ukraine and NATO’s Indo-Pacific partners on defense production.

A key part of the pledge is to standardize weapons across the alliance: The war in Ukraine has shown that even standard 155mm ammunition often has small differences that mean it cannot be used across different countries’ artillery.

“It’s bad for the military commander because it means you have different pots of ammunition, it lengthens your supply lines. It’s just terrible all around,” the official said. Ammunition purchases across the alliance will now be subject to standardized guidelines, the official added.