NATO prepares arms deals in Ankara ahead of Trump summit

NATO is preparing to unveil arms deals worth tens of billions of dollars in Ankara as allies try to prove they can turn higher spending into real firepower before a summit with Donald Trump. The two-day meeting at the Beştepe Presidential Complex runs July 7-8 and follows the 2025 Hague pledge to lift defence spending to 5% of GDP by 2035, with at least 3.5% for core defence requirements.

Mark Rutte has made the message about "delivery," and he has said allies will announce "tens of billions" in new contracts. NATO says European Allies and Canada increased core defence investment by USD 139 billion in 2025, and some members are already expected to reach the 5% target in 2026. The political calculation is plain: the alliance is trying to show that higher budgets are producing aircraft, missiles and industrial capacity, not just sharper language for Washington.

The summit is also being used to answer a harder question inside NATO: whether this is real military readiness or a carefully timed display designed to blunt years of U.S. complaints about free-riding. NATO’s summit materials say the agenda centers on defence investment, defence-industrial production and continued support for Ukraine, and the meeting will be paired with a Defence Industry Forum on July 7. Draft summit language is expected to reaffirm Article 5, describe Russia as a long-term threat and pledge about €70 billion in annual military support for Ukraine in 2026 and 2027. The United States is not expected to take part in that financing target.

Turkey has moved to make the summit a stage for its own defence ambitions. Ankara is pushing for a roughly $700 million deal for about 80 GE F-110 fighter jet engines for its Kaan fighter project, and it is still seeking a breakthrough on the French-Italian SAMP-T anti-missile system. Recep Tayyip Erdogan is using the gathering to underline Turkey’s rising influence inside the alliance, while the summit also highlights the country’s role as host of NATO’s second meeting in Türkiye.

The political backdrop has not been uniformly welcoming. Thousands of protesters demonstrated in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir against NATO’s push for higher military spending ahead of the summit.