ANKARA, Turkey — NATO kicked off its annual Summit here by announcing a series of new air power deals and initiatives with a heavy focus on boosting surveillance and strategic airlift capabilities.
At a defense industry forum on the sidelines of the event today, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte rolled out the first wave of lucrative acquisitions, headlined by three major decisions: the procurement of up to 10 Swedish-made GlobalEye surveillance aircraft, initiation of a new multinational High Visibility Project for a fleet of Airbus A400M transport planes and the integration of five US-produced MQ-4C drones into the alliance’s ISR force.
Though exact contract values were not disclosed, Rutte said these projects are worth “billions of dollars” and will be “money well-spent.” This major aviation push is in step with a wider plan by allied nations to reportedly unveil tens of billions in new arms contracts during the two-day Summit. Today’s pledges come after US President Donald Trump, who arrived in Ankara to much fanfare, repeatedly called on NATO to invest more in its own defense.
The GlobalEye choice carried its own geopolitical implications, as the selection of a European solution comes after allies axed a plan to initially replace aging E-3 surveillance platforms with Boeing-made E-7 Wedgetails.
On a programmatic level, GlobalEye negotiations between the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) and the manufacturer Saab are to proceed immediately, prior to contract signing. GlobalEye-maker Saab said in a statement following Rutte’s remarks that “GlobalEye will enable the Alliance to monitor vast areas of land, sea and air, significantly enhancing NATO’s ability to detect and respond to a wide range of threats.”
In a further boost for European industry, Belgium, Croatia, France, Poland, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom all committed to the A400M High Visibility Project, which is aimed at plugging gaps in European allies’ strategic airlift capability, according to Airbus.
A NATO press release stated that the effort will employ the Airbus A330 Multirole Tanker Transport (MRTT) fleet “pooling and sharing” concept, allowing participating countries to pool the aircraft and share costs.
However, at least one deal on the the first day of the summit signaled that the alliance is not stepping back from big-ticket US orders. Rutte announced that some NATO allies are jointly acquiring “up to” five Northrop Grumman-produced MQ-4C Tritons, planned for integration into the alliance’s ISR force. The alliance currently owns and operates a fleet of five RQ-4D drones also manufactured by the American company.
Rutte didn’t name the countries invovled, but an alliance statement identified them as Denmark, Finland, Germany and Norway. Rutte added that “transatlantic industry” will contribute to the effort by providing mission support, data systems and infrastructure.
Triton is “poised to provide NATO new levels of capability and operational flexibility to monitor and protect maritime interests from the Mediterranean to the High North,” said Jane Bishop, VP Global Surveillance at Northrop Grumman, in a statement to media.
More defense deals are expected to be announced tomorrow, as the alliance also braces for a speech by Trump, who has already taken the opportunity at the summit to criticize the alliance.
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