The commitment, a so-called “pledge”, is a signal to the arms industry to step up production, Stoltenberg said in a speech to the Nato Summit Defense Industry Forum in Washington on Tuesday.

– It is not possible to deliver a strong defense without a strong defense industry, Stoltenberg stated.

– We are completely dependent on you delivering the military capacities we need, said the NATO chief addressing the hall, which was packed with representatives of industry, including Norwegian Nammo and the Kongsberg Group.

Buying missiles for billions

Stoltenberg also brought the news that NATO’s own procurement agency NSPA has signed a multinational contract for the purchase of Stinger missiles worth 700 million dollars, according to Reuters.

Stinger missiles are an anti-aircraft weapon, and the amount corresponds to almost NOK 7.5 billion.

A number of NATO member states are now rearming up as a result of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

At the same time, the Ukraine war is devouring weapons faster than the arms industry can produce them. It has long been a headache for both NATO and the EU how to manage to speed up the industry.

Norwegian model

On Tuesday, the Norwegian government announced that Nammo will receive NOK 1 billion in government support to tenfold the production of artillery shells.

According to Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide (Ap), government contributions cannot be avoided if production capacity in the defense industry is to be increased.

He believes that other countries will follow in Norway’s footsteps in this area.

– I think more people will realize that government capital is needed to build up production capacity. Although there are now more long-term contracts, it is very expensive to overcome the problem, he says to NTB.

The top percentage goal

According to Stoltenberg, 23 of NATO’s 32 member states will be able to meet the so-called two percent target in 2024, that is to say spending 2 percent of gross domestic product on defence.

When the target was adopted ten years ago, only three of the countries in the alliance did this.

– The member states that have not yet spent 2 percent have promised that they will do so soon, he said.

However, Belgium has previously stated that they will not be able to reach the target until 2035. Canada, which according to NATO statistics spends just under 1.7 percent of its GDP on defence, has not even set a time when the target will be reached.

In Europe, Spain is at the very bottom of the list. According to the Financial Times, the Spanish spend only 1.28 percent of their GDP on defence.