NATO to Form 49 New Brigades

The NATO plans, which have not yet been published and are available to WELT AM SONNTAG, require the allies to provide a substantial increase in the number of personnel and weapons to defend against Russia.

In Brussels on Tuesday, the new NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, identified the two primary responsibilities of his tenure in office. Jens Stoltenberg was succeeded by Rutte. In addition to maintaining support for Ukraine, Rutte emphasised the importance of safeguarding the transatlantic alliance against Russia.

The Allies finally received “the complete set of minimum required capabilities” in spring 2024, which are essential for achieving this goal.

These “Minimum Capability Requirements” (MCR) place a number of additional demands on the member states. They deemed 82 combat troop brigades adequate in 2021 but will increase to 131 in the future. The Bundeswehr has added 49 of these substantial units, manned by approximately 5,000 personnel each.

Furthermore, there is a need for action in the areas of material, specifically air defense, ammunition, long-range precision weapons, logistics, and transport.

The following are the total requirements of the 32 allies. The member states will distribute the MCR as mandatory capability targets until the October 2025 meeting of NATO defence ministers.

In order to achieve NATO’s objectives, the Allies would need to allocate substantially more resources to defence.