NATO News

On 1 July 2019, Dr Bryan Wells (UK) takes office as the NATO Chief Scientist. In this capacity, he serves in a double role as the senior scientific advisor to NATO leadership and as the Chairman of the NATO Science & Technology Board. Both roles are essential to support the Alliance in maintaining its Science & Technology (S&T) edge.

On Thursday (27 June 2019), NATO marked 10 years since the Alliance’s fleet of Globemaster transport aircraft made its maiden flight, a major step in Allies’ ability to move personnel and equipment across the world.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg spoke at the German Marshall Fund’s Brussels Forum on Thursday (27 June 2019), touching on issues ranging from Afghanistan to the Arctic, and arms control to European defence cooperation. He said that NATO “has worked for 70 years and it is going to work for many more years, as long as we are united, strong and credible.” The Brussels Forum brings together European and North American senior public and private sector leaders, academia and the media, to discuss current transatlantic challenges.

Seven Allies and one partner nation signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Multinational Cooperation for the provision of Maritime Battle Decisive Munitions (MBDM) in Brussels at the NATO Defence Ministers’ Meeting on June 27, 2019.

NATO Defence Ministers wrapped up two days of discussions in Brussels on Thursday (27 June 2019). Ministers addressed Russia’s violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, progress on burden sharing, NATO’s defence and deterrence posture, new technologies and NATO’s mission in Afghanistan.

On Wednesday (26 June 2019), two ongoing multinational initiatives in the munition sector – Land Battle Decisive Munitions and Air-to-Ground Precision Guided Munition – welcomed two additional participants each. This marks yet another enlargement of the two successful projects that aim to make munition acquisition and warehousing simpler and cheaper.

NATO Defence Ministers met in Brussels on Wednesday (26 June 2019) to address Russia’s violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and the Alliance’s response. “We continue to urge Russia to return to full and verifiable compliance,” said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. He underlined that Russia continues to produce and deploy SSC-8 missiles, and therefore NATO is preparing for a world without the INF Treaty. “Ministers have agreed today that NATO will respond should Russia fail to return to compliance,” said the Secretary General. He stressed that Russia still has a chance to save the INF Treaty and Allies will convey this message at a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council next week.

NATO’s annual Coalition Warrior Interoperability Exercise (CWIX) has just concluded at the Joint Force Training Centre in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Over the last three weeks, more than 1,500 engineers, scientists, industry representatives and military operators from NATO Allies, partners and organizations took part in the event, which was the largest of this series of exercises to date.

NATO Defence Ministers are meeting today (26 June 2019) to begin two days of talks on key security challenges, including Russia’s violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Ministers will discuss progress on burden sharing, NATO’s defence and deterrence posture, new technologies and NATO’s mission in Afghanistan.

The NATO Secretary General, Mr. Jens Stoltenberg, will participate in the Brussels Forum, an annual conference organized by the German Marshall Fund of the United States, on Thursday, 27 June 2019.

Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg met with President Zuzana Čaputová of Slovakia at NATO Headquarters on Tuesday (25 June 2019) for talks about the security situation in Europe, and the Alliance’s adaptation ahead of the NATO Summit in London in December.

NATO Defence Ministers will meet in Brussels this week (26-27 June 2019) to take decisions to continue modernising the Alliance. Ahead of the two-day meeting, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg outlined the key topics for discussion, including Russia’s violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, progress on burden sharing, NATO’s defence and deterrence posture, new technologies and NATO’s mission in Afghanistan.

NATO collects defence expenditure data from Allies on a regular basis and presents aggregates and subsets of this information. Each Ally’s Ministry of Defence reports current and estimated future defence expenditure according to an agreed definition of defence expenditure.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Foreign Minister of Pakistan Shah Mahmood Qureshi met on Monday (24 June 2019) at NATO Headquarters to discuss a range of issues of mutual concern.

From 4 to 7 June 2019, approximately 150 participants from 24 NATO Member nations, the Republic of North Macedonia and 11 Partner nations gathered to participate in the 43rd NATO Committee on Gender Perspectives (NCGP) Annual Conference. The Open Conference included three Panel discussions related to integrating gender perspectives in the armed forces - role of strategic military leadership; NATO’s historic engagement with gender in military operations; and Gender Advisors’ and Senior NCOs’ successes and challenges in implementation at the tactical level. A book launch and discussion on “NATO, Gender and the Military: Women Organising from Within” also took place.

The NATO Secretary General, Mr. Jens Stoltenberg will meet the President of the Slovak Republic, Ms. Zuzana Čaputová, on Tuesday, 25 June 2019.

On Monday 24 June 2019, the NATO Secretary General, Mr. Jens Stoltenberg will meet the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Mr. Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

I welcome today’s announcement by the Joint Investigation Team that four suspects will be prosecuted for crimes in relation to the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in July 2014. This is an important milestone in the efforts to uncover the full truth and ensure that justice is done for the killing of 298 people from 17 countries.

Today, (18 June 2019) six NATO Allies took a critical step towards making the future Multi Role Tanker and Transport Capability (MRTT-C) more affordable. A Letter of Intent on cooperation around the MRTT-C was signed between France and the five current MRTT-C participants: Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Norway. This will help make maintenance and repair operations for the MRTT-C more affordable. The Letter of Intent sets out areas of cooperation including exchanges of expertise and joint training.

On 17 and 18 June 2019, NATO’s Political Affairs and Security Policy Division received a high-level delegation of military officers from the Moroccan Royal Armed Forces. This was the first visit of military officers from Morocco to the Headquarters of the Atlantic Alliance conducted in the framework of NATO’s public diplomacy activities with Morocco.