NATO unveils billions in arms deals to prove its firepower to Trump
[July 07, 2026]
By LORNE COOK, SUZAN FRASER and ABBY SEWELL
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — NATO on Tuesday showcased a series of military
projects worth billions of dollars in an attempt to persuade President
Donald Trump that U.S. allies are converting fresh defense spending into
real firepower.
“It’s money well spent,” an energized NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte
told government ministers and defense industry officials on the
sidelines of a summit in Turkey. He was speaking at a defense industry
forum billed as NATO’s “big reveal,” to the thrum of techno music and a
slick video display.
Trump, who is slated to arrive in Ankara later Tuesday, has branded NATO
a “paper tiger” that would cease to function without American arms and
leadership.
NATO as an organization does not own any weapons — these are the
property of the 32 member countries — but it does have a fleet of 14
AWACS early warning radar surveillance planes that are about 50 years
old, along with some newer surveillance drones.
A deal to replace the aging planes was announced Tuesday. Swedish
manufacturer Saab will be supplying up to 10 new GlobalEye surveillance
aircraft for a 10-nation consortium, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf
Kristersson announced.
“It’s a moment of great pride,” he said, noting that the twin-engine
aircraft would be “made within the alliance for all the alliance.”
Some of the projects will be paid for with funds from a system of cheap
loans for defense purposes set up by the European Union, comprising up
to $170 billion raised on capital markets.
“We need to ensure that we are translating our economic might into
military capabilities, putting the cash to work from defense plans to
drones, from money to missiles and interceptors,” Rutte said.
Defense sales announced
Representatives from 15 nations shook hands and patted shoulders on a
vast podium under the NATO logo as they announced a multinational effort
to buy air-to-air refueling and transport planes from Airbus.
Then Rutte announced a four-country effort to purchase as many as five
new Triton surveillance drones to add to NATO’s small fleet.
“It is genuinely made in NATO, and creating jobs on both sides of the
Atlantic,” he said.
Rutte told reporters on the eve of the military alliance’s two-day
summit in Turkey that “we will announce tens of billions in new
contracts that will provide the crucial kit we need to deter and
defend.”
However, at Tuesday's event, no dollar figures were given and the
display included some projects long since agreed.
The defense industry splash comes a few weeks after Rutte tried to ease
U.S. concerns about military spending at NATO with a new pitch using a
chart labeled “The Trump Trillion” — showing $1.2 trillion in spending
by European allies and Canada since 2017.
Far from being impressed, Trump appeared unmoved, saying he was still
disappointed at some NATO allies’ refusal to join the Iran war, which he
had launched alongside Israel without consulting them.
“We don’t need their money — we don’t need anything,” Trump said. “I
just want loyalty.”
Debate over jet sales to Turkey
The summit is being held in President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s sprawling
palace compound in Ankara, and Trump has suggested he would come bearing
gifts for the Turkish leader.
Speaking Monday on the morning show “Fox & Friends,” Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the U.S. not to sell F-35 fighter jets
to Turkey, saying that Erdogan “calls openly for the annihilation of
Israel.”
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NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks during the opening of the
NATO Defense Industry Forum on the sidelines of the NATO summit in
Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday, July 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Turkey and Israel have acrimonious relations. Erdogan frequently
accuses Israel of committing genocide in its war in Gaza, triggered
by the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel.
Turkey was barred from the F-35 program in 2019 after it purchased
Russian-made S-400 missile defense systems. However, Trump, who has
warm relations with Erdogan, has hinted ahead of his planned visit
to Ankara that the sales could soon resume.
Netanyahu said selling Turkey F-35s would “upset the power balance
in the Middle East, which is ultimately guaranteed by Israeli air
superiority and also, I think, by America’s posture in the Middle
East.”
Israel’s Air Force depends on hundreds of U.S. fighter jets,
including F-35s, F-16s and F-15s.
Turkey beefed up security and banned protests in Ankara during the
summit, but a small group of demonstrators gathered on Tuesday in
the capital. They were quickly surrounded by police, and a legal
association said 22 students affiliated with the leftist Turkish
Workers Party and three lawyers had been detained.
Seeking a stronger Europe for a stronger NATO
The focus of the summit is a stronger Europe for a stronger NATO.
The Trump administration has warned the allies that they must handle
Europe’s security alone as the United States focuses on China and
the Indo-Pacific region.
The Pentagon wants a reboot and is promoting what it calls “NATO
3.0,” a vision of the alliance in which Europe assumes greater
responsibility for its own defense, freeing the U.S. to concentrate
on other priorities.
But hiking defense spending means increasing taxes or diverting
resources from other priorities. U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey
unexpectedly quit last month, saying the British government was not
willing to spend at a time of rising threats.
Concern is mounting among some northern and central eastern
countries that Russia might be preparing a hybrid attack — a
combination of conventional warfare with tactics like cyberattacks —
on the continent as Russian President Vladimir Putin struggles to
secure victory in Ukraine.
Keir Starmer’s office said the British leader will be “focused on
building a stronger and more European NATO” on what is likely to be
his last foreign trip as prime minister.
Starmer, who announced his resignation June 22, has faced criticism
from military leaders, opposition politicians and some in his
center-left party for the slow rate of increase in U.K. military
spending.
His government has committed to reach the NATO budget target of
spending 3.5% of gross domestic product on defense by 2035 but does
not have a concrete plan to get there. Its current spending plan
will see that spending hit 2.7% of GDP by 2029.
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Associated Press writers Jill Lawless in London and Andy Wilks in
Istanbul contributed to this report.
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