Ankara, 7 July 2026
Major new procurements were announced at the NATO Summit Defence Industry Forum on Tuesday (7 July 2026) which will boost defence production and innovation across the Alliance, and provide new capabilities to strengthen NATO’s deterrence and defence.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced the delivery of the 10th Airbus A330 MRTT aircraft to the Multinational Multi-Role Tanker Transport Fleet; the procurement of Northrop Grumman Triton uncrewed aircraft to enhance NATO’s maritime surveillance; and the joint procurement of Saab GlobalEye aircraft to modernise NATO’s airborne early warning and control capabilities.
The Forum brought together Allied ministers, senior officials, and representatives from over 100 companies to translate the defence investment commitments made in The Hague last year into concrete capabilities and industrial output. “The money is there, and more is coming,” Mr. Rutte said, while calling on governments and industry to, “do more, faster, together.”
The Secretary General also unveiled the NATO Drone Edge initiative, which will significantly increase investment in counter-drone systems and expand the training of drone operators. He also issued a Call to Action to leading financial institutions, urging them to increase capital flows into the defence sector to support faster production and innovation.
The Secretary General also launched two new NATO initiatives at the Forum. The NATO Front Door for Industry is a new platform to simplify how companies engage with NATO, and he announced the release of NATO’s first public unclassified demand signal to give industry greater visibility of Allied capability requirements. Mr. Rutte also launched the NATO Engine, aimed at expanding production capacity by connecting defence and civilian manufacturing lines across the Alliance.
Also at the Forum, NATO Deputy Secretary General Radmila Shekerinska announced major initiatives in the areas of space and surveillance, strike capabilities, and integrated air and missile defence.
- Event schedule including news, transcripts and multimedia
- Overview – 2026 NATO Summit Ankara
- Event schedule including news, transcripts and multimedia
Source – NATO
Remarks by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on major capability announcements at the NATO Summit Defence Industry Forum
Ankara, 7 July 2026
NATO Spokesperson Allison Hart
Good morning, everyone, and welcome. We are very pleased to have so many representatives from our Allies, industry and the press here with us this morning.
I would also like to welcome those of you who are joining us via livestream. We will be making a series of important announcements here this morning, and for those of you participating in this segment, I will ask you to be ready to come to the stage when I call your country or your company.
Our first segment this morning will last around half an hour, and we will then take a short break and move up to the plenary room, for more announcements.
For now, I would like to invite the NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte to the stage.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte
Good morning and welcome. Welcome to the NATO Summit Defence Industry Forum. This is really the, the platform bringing NATO and industry together. And above all, it’s the opportunity to showcase the capabilities and innovation coming out of our industries across the Alliance, across NATO. And I am proud to say that we have a lot to show today.
One year ago in The Hague, Allies committed to invest a lot more in defence – 5% of GDP by 2035. We’re already making remarkable progress.
And they agreed to ramp up defence production and innovation. And here we are now, one year later in Ankara, already delivering results.
Throughout the day, Allies and industry, from both sides of the Atlantic, will reveal new major projects and sign contracts worth billions, literally billions of dollars. These are billions that are invested in our security, boosting our economies and supporting hundreds of thousands of new jobs. It’s money well spent.
Today, you will see – and the world will see – industries from North America and Europe working hand-in-hand, innovating together, and developing next generation capabilities. These are capabilities that are really ‘Made in NATO’ – not by one nation, but several – working together in close cooperation. And that’s how we make our Alliance more powerful. It’s how we defend our one billion people and every inch of our territory – now and in the future. So, I would say, let’s get started.
The first announcement this morning is about the platforms that deliver air-to-air refuelling and rapidly move equipment across the Alliance. It’s about air power – which is essential to strengthen our deterrence and defence. Today, several Allies are officially announcing the forthcoming delivery of the tenth Airbus A330 MRTT aircraft to the Multinational Multi-Role Tanker Transport Fleet. This is bringing us one step closer to the full MRTT fleet of 12 aircraft.
Allies are also launching a new multinational project focused on the Airbus A400M. This is world-class strategic airlift capability. The A330 MRTT and the A400M will provide the Alliance with two highly capable, multinational fleets. This first “Made in NATO” announcement is an excellent example, I believe, of multinational cooperation in action. The Airbus platforms are built on strong European industrial leadership, close NATO-EU cooperation, and with contributions from U.S. industry partners. They keep NATO’s air power strong, credible, and ready for decades to come.
NATO Spokesperson Allison Hart
Thank you very much Secretary General. I would now like to invite the Airbus chairman of Defence and Space UK, Ben Bridge, to the stage. And now I would like to invite the participating Allied representatives of the Airbus MRTT Initiative to the stage: Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden.
Alright. Thank you very much. I would invite the representatives of Belgium and Airbus to remain on stage, for the A400M initiative. The other Allied representatives may return to their seats. And now I would like to invite the additional participating Allied representatives of the A400M initiative to the stage: Croatia, France, Poland, Spain, Türkiye, and the United Kingdom.
Alright, thank you very much. You may all return to your seats, as we prepare for our next announcement. And our next announcements is on Triton.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte
Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, or ISR in our jargon, is a vital capability for the Alliance. It gives us the situational awareness we need to make the right decisions and stay ahead of threats. Today, Allies are taking a concrete step to strengthen this capability. We are adding up to five Triton high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft to our NATO’s ISR Force.
These additional aircraft will provide persistent surveillance over large maritime areas, day and night. They can fly for long periods at high-altitude and cover large areas, including over open water, more efficiently than most other aircraft can. The Triton will help us detect threats early, protect our sea lines of communication, and support operations in demanding regions, such as the High North.
So all-in-all, they are making NATO’s ISR posture significantly stronger. Northrop Grumman is building the Triton aircraft, and transatlantic industry is working on mission support, data systems and infrastructure. It is genuinely “Made in NATO” and creating jobs on both sides of the Atlantic. This is transatlantic cooperation in action.
NATO Spokesperson Allison Hart
Thank you very much, and now I would like to invite the president of Northrop Grumman International, Frank Morley, to the stage. And now I would like to invite the participating Allied representatives of the Triton initiative to the stage: Denmark, Finland, Germany, and Norway. Okay, thank you very much. You may return to your seats, as we prepare for the third and final announcement of this segment this morning on the initial Alliance Future Surveillance and Control initiative. And we will be showing one more video, here we go.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte
SAAB’s GlobalEye system takes airborne warning and control to a new level. For decades, NATO has relied on a fleet of E3 Airborne Warning and Control Systems, that have been our ‘eyes in the skies’. They have been deployed from Northern Norway to Southern Türkiye. They have served us well and continue to do so, but they are reaching the end of their lives.
Today, several Allies are announcing the joint procurement of up to 10 SAAB GlobalEye aircraft to replace them. This will ensure we keep NATO’s owned and operated surveillance and early warning capability strong and credible for decades to come.
In addition, several Allies are launching today a multinational project to cooperate on procuring and fielding more airborne early warning capabilities, such as GlobalEye, to respond to their national requirements. GlobalEye will provide simultaneous surveillance across air, maritime and land domains from a single platform, giving commanders a clear operational picture. It is a proven system, with a demonstrated ability to detect, track and identify complex threats, including drone swarms, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles. Like its predecessor, GlobalEye is a transatlantic programme, delivered by European and Canadian industries, with essential contributions from U.S. industries. It is a real success story, again, “Made in NATO”.
NATO Spokesperson Allison Hart
Thank you very much. I would now like to invite the Prime Minister of Sweden, Ulf Kristersson, to the stage.
Prime Minister of Sweden Ulf Kristersson
Thank you so much. Thank you all. Thank you, dear Mark. I am immensely proud to stand here together with you today, during these important announcements. And it is of course a moment of great pride for Sweden, obviously. The GlobalEye is a result of decades of ingenuity, innovation, investment and commitment by so many people. I am even prouder of what today’s announcement entails for NATO, for our Allies, and for Euro-Atlantic security.
GlobalEye actually provides the Alliance with a powerful capability for surveillance and reconnaissance. It will also strengthen our ability to identify and respond to threats, both present and future, across different domains and directions. 360, 24/7. Moreover, GlobalEye is a testament to partnerships. It is in fact a prime example of what Allied defence industries can achieve when partnering together, delivering advanced capabilities made within the Alliance, for the Alliance.
In this spirit, I am pleased that also Canada and France recently decided to join the family. And starting from 2027, you will see them operating also from Swedish air bases, for the benefit to the Alliance. With these words, I look forward to welcoming NATO into the GlobalEye family. It will strengthen our collective ability to deter aggression, to defend Allied territory, and safeguard freedom and security of nearly one billion citizens. Thank you so much.
NATO Spokesperson Allison Hart
Thank you very much Prime Minister. And I would now like to invite the president and CEO of SAAB, Micael Johansson, to the stage. And now I would like to invite the additional participating Allied representatives of the initial Alliance Future Surveillance and Control initiative to the stage: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Romania. Thank you all.
Now, I would invite the Secretary General, the Prime Minister of Sweden, and the representatives of Denmark and Germany to remain on the stage for the Crewed Airborne Early Warning initiative. Our other Allied representatives may return to their seats. And I would now like to invite the additional Allied representatives of the Crewed Airborne Early Warning initiative to the stage: Finland, France, Poland, Spain, and Türkiye.
Thank you very much. All of you, including the Secretary General, may return to your seats. Well, I would say we are off to a great start. Thank you very much to our audience in the room, and to those of us who are joining us online.
Source – NATO
Interventions by President von der Leyen at the panel discussion at the NATO Summit Defence Industry Forum
Ankara, 7 July 2026
Q President von der Leyen, how do you see the new environment in which the defence industry has become so important for all of us, both at NATO and in the European Union?
President von der Leyen: Thank you for so much for having us here. This is indeed a great opportunity to show how closely we are working together – the European Union and NATO. I was just thinking today: one of the reasons is, my dear friend Mark, that we both have experience on both sides. Mark was Prime Minister for 14 years, so he was in the European Council. And I was Defence Minister for five years, so I was sitting in NATO. Now it is the other way around. And therefore, we both know how important a close cooperation between the European Union and NATO is.
Second, I just listened to the panel before us: it is very clear; all Member States of the European Union and allies have one single set of forces. So they assign these single sets of forces either to NATO missions or to EU missions, UN missions or to a coalition of the willing. But to make this possible, what we need is interoperability. And of course, in this geostrategic and geopolitical environment, we need a massive surge in defence investment. And here, the European Union is indeed massively stepping up. We have our ReArm Europe programme, which mobilises up to €800 billion until 2030. In this we have the SAFE programme – €150 billion euros for joint procurement. And not to forget, the next long-term budget will have €131 billion for military capabilities, plus €17 billion for military mobility, which is also of utmost importance for streets, bridges, ports, airports, etcetera; the infrastructure has to be here on the European side as well. And on SAFE, as I said, the joint procurement is very important for us. Here we have good news. We have now 10 agreements worth €100 billion. SAFE is, per design, also open to partners and other countries. 35% of the cost components can go outside the European Union. But of course, 65% have to be in the European Union. And that is the point, how we strengthen the defence industrial base. Because with this taxpayer’s money we of course want a return on investment, we want good jobs in Europe, and we want research and development in Europe, so that is important for us.
My last point on this. For countries outside the European Union, there is the possibility to open the door more than the 35%. If a country has signed a security and defence agreement with the EU they can participate in joint procurement. And here Canada is the first one to have done this. So these possibilities are also there and you see a wide spectrum of investment.
Q Since we have Turkish participants here in the audience, how do you see the involvement of non-EU allies? You mentioned Canada but there are others, including Türkiye. What is a way forward to properly involve Türkiye in such projects? If you can touch upon it, I am sure they will be quite receptive.
President von der Leyen: Türkiye is one of the largest armed forces within NATO. It is of very big importance and has always played an important role in the Alliance, and in the relationship with the European Union. And as I said, if you only look at SAFE, €150 billion – up to 35% of that is a lot. And this is open to work with countries outside the EU, for example, Türkiye. When it comes to the €800 billion until 2030 – it is the decision of the Member States on how to invest their defence allocation to fill the gaps. So there is a wide opportunity to have a very close cooperation with each other. For us, it is very important to be totally aligned with the NATO targets because, as I said, the one single set of forces, we know where the gaps are, and we have to work very closely together to close them. So, for example, the NATO Defence Planning Process (NDPP), is very important for us so that we fill the gaps in a cost-efficient manner.
But I want to add another point. We also want to work very closely with Ukraine. The panel before us described the phenomenal innovative power that Ukraine has. And we have to use this. Because we have to step up in our defence capabilities fast, at a reasonable cost, and smart. And Ukraine has proven all this in the last years under the immense pressure of the war. This is the reason why the European Union, for the first time, opened our Innovation Office in Kyiv to have direct contact with the Ukrainian industrial base. Secondly, we are encouraging our companies to enter into joint ventures with Ukrainian companies. And thirdly, as the European Union, we are working on a longer-term partnership to see how we can boost our cutting edge technology production in our defence industrial base, together with Ukraine. We can learn a lot from Ukraine, and we have to learn a lot. Because not only are they highly innovative, but they are also battlefield-experienced. So this whole picture shows how much we are stepping up, together with NATO because we share the same interests and we share the same values.
Q There is a general geopolitical transformation with its unfortunate rupture. And certainly, it is necessary to also have a transformation of mindset. It perhaps requires, as many have touched upon already, not to see governments as the only stakeholder but it should be a combination of contributions from others, including industry. So we rather used to talk about a whole-of-government approach. Perhaps on resilience you may talk a bit about a whole-of-society approach.
President von der Leyen: The whole-of-society approach is very important. Because we do not only see the conventional, or let us say the military threat out there, but the whole hybrid attacks that we are suffering from that are targeting society. For example, if you take foreign interference and manipulation of information, largely internet-based, this is a big issue which is targeting society’s vulnerability and where you have to build resilience. And this is something we are working intensively on to set the record straight and to convince people with real facts and figures. In these internet-based debates, we need to be clear on the truth – what the right facts and figures are. And you can win these battles. We have seen in different scenarios that you can really convince people. If you look at the Eurobarometer, which measures the opinions of European citizens, they say very clearly that one of their top concerns and worries is security and resilience. So Europeans have understood how important it is to defend our democracy, to defend our values, and to stand up for freedom and for peace. So this whole-of-society approach is the precondition to be successful.
Source – EU Commission