NATO Summit Opens in Ankara With New A400M Airlift Fleet
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- NATO opened a two-day summit in Ankara, Turkey, drawing leaders from all 32 member countries including Trump, with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, EU's Costa and von der Leyen expected at a leaders' dinner.
- Mark Rutte announced NATO will stand up a strategic airlift fleet of A400M transport planes and expand its existing A330 MRTT tanker/transport fleet by one aircraft.
- Saab will supply up to 10 Globaleye surveillance aircraft to NATO allies to replace the alliance's ageing AWACS fleet.
- European leaders will aim to convince Trump they are tracking a Hague summit pledge to spend 5 percent of GDP on defence and defence-related measures by 2035.
- Ukraine support is one of three summit priorities, alongside boosting defence investment and expanding Europe's defence industrial base.
- NATO will host a defence industry forum in Ankara on Tuesday, where deals worth tens of billions of dollars are expected to be announced.
Why it matters: European allies are using this summit to demonstrate defense credibility to Trump ahead of a 2035 deadline, while concrete announcements—A400M airlift fleet, 10 Globaleye jets, and tens of billions in industry deals—signal NATO is committing real institutional money to the 5 percent spending pledge. The Ukraine-centric agenda keeps wartime support central even as burden-sharing dominates the political backdrop.
