NATO members increase military production, at least 48 Leopard 2 tanks promised for Ukraine

(Patria) - NATO countries are increasing artillery ammunition production as Ukraine is consuming shells much faster than the West can produce them, the alliance announced and promised to deliver at least 48 Leopard 2 tanks to Kyiv, Reuters reports.

“Things are happening, but… we need to step up even more, because there is a great need to provide Ukraine with ammunition,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters after a two-day meeting of the alliance’s defense ministers in Brussels.

He noted that countries such as the United States, France, Germany, and Norway have signed contracts for ammunition that would allow NATO members to replenish their stocks, as well as continue supplying Kyiv.

Even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24 last year, many NATO countries failed to meet the alliance’s targets for building up ammunition stocks. The pace of deliveries to Ukraine, where Kyiv’s troops fire up to 10,000 artillery shells per day, has further depleted the West’s reserves. At the same time, plans are being formed to supply Kyiv with two battalions of Leopard 2 tanks.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that Western countries have promised 48 Leopard 2 tanks for Kyiv, including one battalion with 31 units of the older Leopard 2 A4 tank, the delivery of which is coordinated by Poland. In addition, Berlin will send 14, and Lisbon another three more advanced Leopard 2 A6 tanks, according to Pistorius.

Allies have also begun discussions on whether defense spending of 2% of GDP is sufficient for a full-scale war raging in neighboring Ukraine.

“I think we should move from 2% as an upper limit to 2% of GDP as a minimum,” Stoltenberg said.

“I think just moving towards the 2% target will not be enough, it can only be a basis for further steps,” the German Defense Minister told reporters.

A decision is expected at the NATO summit in Lithuania in July.

At their summit in Wales in 2014, NATO leaders agreed to move towards spending at least 2% of their GDP on defense within a decade. It was their response to what NATO perceived as a seriously deteriorated security situation in Europe months after Russia’s annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. But many countries, such as Germany, still have not met the target.

Berlin’s defense spending is expected to reach less than 1.5% of GDP in 2022, while the United States will spend nearly 3.5%, according to NATO estimates published last June.