Turkey Supports NATO’s 5% Defence Spending Target, Mulls Nationwide Air Shield: Report

Turkey has put its weight behind NATO’s new defence expenditure target, which now invites member states to spend five percent of their GDP on defence by 2035, Reuters reported on Thursday, quoting a senior Turkish defence ministry official. Turkey has already surpassed the previous two percent target.

Turkey is Already ‘Well Above’ the Previous NATO Target

Turkey is “well above the two percent threshold” under the Defence Spending pledge, the Turkish official told Reuters in Ankara, adding that with NATO’s “second-largest military”, Turkey is “one of the top five contributors” to NATO operations and missions.

Air Defence a Top Priority for Turkey

The official, while speaking with the US-based new agency, further suggested that Turkey is seeking to enhance its defence capabilities – particularly air defences – under its national “Steel Dome” project. The country’s goal is to create a multi-layered air defence system nationwide, conceptually similar to Israel’s Iron Dome, the report said.

“We are making investments in air defence systems, hypersonic, ballistic and cruise missile capabilities, unmanned land, sea and air systems, and next-generation aircraft carriers, frigates, and tanks,” Reuters quoted the Turkish defence ministry official as saying.

Erdogan Says It’s ‘Very Important’ for Turkey to ‘Have Missiles at Various Altitudes’

On his way back from the NATO summit in The Hague, President Tayyip Erdogan stressed on the need for Turkey to have a “system of systems” in place in order to defend its skies.

“It is very important for us to have missiles at various altitudes, and for these to work in harmony like the organs on a body,” he said, according to a statement from his office on Thursday cited by Reuters. Erdogan, the report said, also indicated that the Russian-made S-400 systems that his country had acquired in 2020 were “not enough.”

Alhough Turkey is proceeding with the Steel Dome, both defence officials and defence analysts quoted by the news agency underlined that it’s still under development and years away from being fully deployed.

“We have taken our country to a certain level, but we are not going to pause here. We need to enhance our missile capabilities. We are implementing the system of systems, which will integrate air defence systems at various altitudes, our radars, electronic combat systems,” Erdogan said, according to Reuters.

NATO Sets New Defence Spending Target: 5% GDP by 2035

NATO’s new objective involves spending at least 3.5% of the GDP on core military defence, with the other 1.5% going towards civilian infrastructure and resilience development. The idea is to improve both civil and military readiness against long-term threats, primarily the ones posed by Russia.

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