NATO will ask Germany to provide seven more brigades, or some 40,000 troops, for the alliance’s defence, three sources told Reuters, under new targets for weapons and troop numbers that its members’ defence ministers are set to agree on next week.
The alliance is dramatically increasing its military capability targets as it views Russia as a much greater threat since its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Exact figures for NATO’s targets – either overall or country by country – are hard to verify as the information is highly classified.
One senior military official who, like the other sources spoke on condition of anonymity, said the target for the total number of brigades that NATO allies would have to provide in future will be raised to between 120 and 130.
This would mean a hike of some 50% from the current target of around 80 brigades, the source said. A government source put the target at 130 brigades for all of NATO.
A spokesperson for the defence ministry in Berlin said he could not pre-empt decisions to be taken by NATO defence ministers next week and by NATO leaders at a summit at the end of June. Läs artikel