NATO Allies Announce 40 Billion Dollar Investment in Counter-Drone Capabilities

NATO Allies announced an investment of more than 40 billion dollars in counter-drone capabilities over the next five years at the NATO Summit Defence Industry Forum on Tuesday. They also set a target to train five times as many drone operators by the end of 2027. To speed purchases, NATO will create a counter-drone marketplace that certifies systems as NATO-tested and NATO-compatible.

Allies will extend the multinational Flight Training Europe initiative to drone operators. Finland, France and Sweden joined the existing seventeen members at the forum, giving participants access to sixteen flight centres in eight countries. NATO’s Supply and Procurement Agency awarded a contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars to buy surveillance drones for member states.

@NATO reported that drones have changed modern warfare and that rapid detection and neutralisation are now central to defence.