NATO leaders pledge to boost weapons output amid Russian threat

The NATO summit opened in Washington this week with pledges from senior U.S. and European leaders to boost production of weapons to help Ukraine, more than two years after Russia invaded, according to multiple press reports.

“The reality is that the war in Ukraine has demonstrated not only that the scopes have been too small, and that the production capacity has been delinquent, but it has also demonstrated serious gaps in our interoperability,” Jens Stoltenberg, secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, said Tuesday during an event at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

He said NATO allies this week will sign an agreement to increase defense spending and coordinate their efforts better. Stoltenberg also said he’s concerned that its efforts so far haven’t kept up with Ukrainian demand. Ukraine isn’t a member of NATO, though the country has pushed to join the alliance.

Missile Defense

Russia has launched daily barrages of missiles at Ukraine, which has only four Patriot air-defense batteries donated from the United States, the Netherlands and Germany. U.S. defense contractor RTX (NYSE:RTX) makes the Patriot system.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday said at the summit that the U.S., Germany, the Netherlands, Romania and Italy will provide equipment for five more air-defense systems in Ukraine. The U.S. and allies will send “dozens” of other systems in the coming months, he said.

The U.S., Germany and Romania each will provide a Patriot battery. Italy will donate a SAMP/T air-defense system. Patriot components from the Netherlands and other countries will make up another Patriot battery, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing a U.S. official.

Supply-Chain Constraints

Amid these promises, U.S. defense companies and Pentagon officials admit they were too optimistic about how fast they could ramp up weapons production amid supply-chain constraints and labor shortages.

Doubling the output of U.S.-made Javelin antitank missiles will take four years, or twice as long as what had been expected.

U.S. output of 155-millimeter artillery shells has more than doubled to 30,000 a month since the start of the conflict in February 2022. It’s expected to double again by the end of summer, the Journal reported. Defense contractors also are boosting output of Patriot interceptors, Himars rocket launchers and the GMLR missiles they fire.

Meanwhile, there have been bureaucratic snags. Much of the $45 billion in supplemental funding approved by the U.S. government hasn’t gone into contract.