# In Ankara, NATO's defense industry flexes its new strength > Introduction: when industry becomes a pillar of deterrence - Author: Maxime Marquette - Publisher: MadMax (https://mad-max.co) - Section: Essay - Published: 2026-07-04 - Canonical URL: https://mad-max.co/en/article/a-ankara-lindustrie-de-defense-de-lotan-affiche-sa-nouvelle-force ## Introduction: when **industry** becomes a pillar of **deterrence** ### A **strategic** forum ahead of the heads-of-state summit The **NATO defense industry forum**, known by the acronym **NSDIF26**, is set to take place in **Ankara** on **July 7, 2026**, bringing together allied **industry** executives and **defense** officials around new technological capabilities and upcoming arms contracts. This event directly precedes the summit of heads of state and government of the **Atlantic Alliance**, a timing that is no coincidence. **NATO** Secretary General **Mark Rutte** called this edition the most important ever organized, a judgment that reflects the scale of the conventional **rearmament** currently underway across all member countries of the **Alliance** in the face of threats posed by **Russia** and other rival powers. ### **Turkey**, the **strategic** host of a pivotal moment The choice of **Ankara** as host city is no accident: **Turkey** now stands as one of the leading exporters of **defense** equipment within the **Alliance**, with annual exports estimated at around **$11 billion**, a figure confirming the rise of the Turkish defense industry on the international stage. *It has to be said plainly: today's **Western** industrial mobilization, however overdue relative to actual needs, finally amounts to a serious response to years of collective underinvestment against adversaries who, for their part, never slowed their own **rearmament**.* ## European **defense** **budgets** on the rise ### Sharply rising investment according to **NATO** According to the annual report of the **NATO** Secretary General, European and Canadian defense spending has seen a significant increase, confirming an underlying trend that began after Russia's invasion of **Ukraine** in **2022**. This sustained budgetary rise now makes it possible to finance industrial contracts on a scale unseen since the end of the Cold War. The **Atlantic Council's** defense spending tracker confirms this upward trajectory, with several member countries now approaching or exceeding the **5%** of gross domestic product target for defense, a threshold once considered politically unreachable for most European capitals. ### A budgetary effort finally matching declared ambitions This increased budgetary effort translates concretely into a surge of industrial orders placed with major European and North American defense groups, creating a virtuous cycle of investment that benefits both the defense industrial base and the overall credibility of **Western** **deterrence** against its **strategic** adversaries. *Seeing European defense **budgets** finally align with targets set years ago is a legitimate source of satisfaction. For far too long, the **Alliance's** rhetorical commitments were not backed by the financial investment needed to make them credible.* ## Europeans fill the gaps left by Washington ### A strategic autonomy taking shape gradually According to **Reuters**, European **NATO** member countries are now filling nearly all the capability gaps left by a gradual American disengagement in certain areas of collective defense planning, a development that illustrates the gradual maturation of European strategic autonomy within the transatlantic architecture. This shift, long called for by several successive American administrations, marks an important step toward a more equitable sharing of the collective defense burden between North American and European allies, a dynamic the **Trump** administration has explicitly encouraged. ### A rebalancing welcomed by Washington This growing European industrial power is viewed positively by the American administration, which sees it as confirmation of its strategy of sustained pressure on European allies to take on a larger share of the financial burden of their own collective defense. *On this specific issue, I have to acknowledge that the pressure exerted by the **Trump** administration on European allies, however diplomatically rough, has produced concrete results that years of more polished negotiations had never managed to achieve.* ## Industrial consolidation underway ### A wave of strategic mergers and acquisitions According to the **Bain** report on mergers and acquisitions in the defense sector, the **Western** arms industry is undergoing a wave of strategic consolidation unprecedented in decades, with major groups seeking to combine their technological capabilities to more effectively meet growing demand from **NATO** member governments. This industrial consolidation aims in particular to accelerate **production** cycles, historically too slow to meet the urgent needs revealed by the conflict in **Ukraine**, where consumption of **munitions** and equipment far exceeds the current production capacity of several Western countries. ### Stock markets validate the trend According to **CNBC**, shares of major European defense companies have seen notable gains, reflecting growing investor confidence in the durability of this phase of Western **rearmament**, which shows no sign of slowing given the current geopolitical context. *This stock market confidence in defense stocks is not merely a financial phenomenon: it reflects an implicit recognition, by the markets themselves, that Western **military** **deterrence** has once again become a lasting priority rather than a passing trend.* ## **Turkey's** pivotal role in the allied ecosystem ### A Turkish industry in full expansion The Turkish defense industry has considerably diversified its production in recent years, establishing itself as a key player in drones, armored vehicles and naval systems, with exports now reaching dozens of countries around the world, well beyond the **NATO** framework alone. This Turkish industrial expansion comes with a clear political ambition: to make **Turkey** an essential hub of defense innovation within the Alliance, an ambition the **Ankara** forum is precisely meant to further consolidate. ### Broader participation from Indo-Pacific partners This forum is also expected to welcome delegations from **NATO's** Indo-Pacific partners, including **South Korea** and **Japan**, whose defense industries have seen remarkable growth in recent years, confirming the growing internationalization of Western **military** supply chains in the face of challenges posed by **China**. *This opening toward Indo-Pacific partners strikes me as one of the most promising developments of this edition of the forum: facing an increasingly aggressive **China**, industrial coordination between the Atlantic and the Pacific is becoming an urgent strategic necessity.* ## Technological issues at the heart of the discussions ### Drones, cybersecurity and autonomous systems Forum discussions are expected to focus primarily on emerging technologies such as autonomous combat drones, advanced cybersecurity systems and artificial intelligence applied to **military** command capabilities, areas where the **West** is seeking to maintain its technological edge against strategic rivals investing massively in these sectors. This technological priority reflects a deep shift in Western military doctrine, where traditional numerical superiority in troop strength is gradually giving way to a pursuit of qualitative superiority grounded in cutting-edge technological innovation. ### An innovation race that is accelerating This technological race is accelerating under the combined pressure of urgent needs revealed by the Ukrainian conflict and growing strategic competition with **China**, whose massive investments in cutting-edge military technologies increasingly worry Western defense planners. *This technological race reassures me as much as it worries me: it proves the **West** is finally taking the measure of the challenge, but it also reminds us just how considerable the accumulated lag remains in certain critical sectors against determined rivals.* ## What this mobilization reveals about Western credibility ### A deterrence finally regaining its substance This unprecedented industrial mobilization, illustrated by the **Ankara** forum, confirms that Western deterrence is gradually regaining a material substance it had lacked since the end of the Cold War, after decades of relative disinvestment in mass military production capabilities. This positive shift must nonetheless be sustained over the long term to produce lasting strategic effects, a considerable political challenge in democracies where budgetary priorities can shift quickly with changes in government and electoral cycles. ### A signal of resolve sent to Moscow and Beijing The signal sent by this massive industrial mobilization to potential adversaries like **Russia** and **China** should not be underestimated: an Alliance capable of rapidly and massively producing modern military equipment constitutes a far more credible deterrent than a mere accumulation of political statements of intent. *I believe this **Ankara** forum will go down as a pivotal moment when the **West** finally turned its tough talk into concrete industrial capabilities. This is exactly the kind of show of strength that actually deters strategic adversaries.* ## Lessons from the front lines for Western industry ### Adaptation accelerated by Ukrainian battlefield feedback Discussions held on the sidelines of the **Ankara** forum largely focused on integrating lessons learned from the **Ukrainian** battlefield, where high-intensity warfare has revealed glaring needs in **munitions**, anti-drone systems and short-range air defense capabilities that Western industry is still struggling to meet at the required scale. This accelerated adaptation of production chains, still imperfect, nonetheless illustrates a healthy awareness within the **Alliance**: high-intensity conventional warfare has not disappeared from the European continent, and the strategic stockpiles accumulated since the end of the Cold War proved dangerously insufficient in the face of a prolonged conflict. ### Manufacturers called on to speed up production rates Major defense manufacturers present in **Ankara**, whether American giants or their European and Turkish counterparts, were directly challenged by allied military officials on their ability to significantly boost production rates, particularly for artillery **munitions** and short-range surface-to-air defense systems. *This pressure on manufacturers to speed up production rates seems absolutely necessary to me, even if it upends business models accustomed to predictable, spread-out orders: the **collective security** of the West can no longer afford the bureaucratic slowness of a defense industry designed for a world without major war.* ## Conclusion: **Ankara**, symbol of an Alliance rearming for the long haul ### A pivotal moment for the Western defense industry The **NATO** defense industry forum in **Ankara** marks a pivotal moment in the conventional rearmament trajectory the Alliance embarked on following Russia's invasion of **Ukraine**. This industrial mobilization, backed by sharply rising defense **budgets**, confirms that the West is finally taking seriously the strategic threats weighing on its **collective security**. The broader participation of Indo-Pacific partners like **South Korea** and **Japan** also illustrates the growing internationalization of this rearmament dynamic, which now extends well beyond the traditional geographic framework of the Atlantic Alliance. ### A project that must continue beyond political cycles What comes next will depend on the ability of allied governments to sustain this budgetary and industrial effort over the long term, beyond changes in government and internal budgetary pressures that could, over time, weaken this collective rearmament dynamic, one nonetheless essential to future Western security. *I'll close on a personal conviction: the Ankara forum will not remain just another diplomatic exercise if the commitments made there truly translate into firm contracts and concrete deliveries. It is this transformation of rhetoric into tangible capabilities that will ultimately determine the lasting credibility of Western deterrence.* **By Maxime Marquette, columnist** ## Columnist's transparency note ### Editorial stance I am not a journalist but a **columnist and analyst**. My expertise lies in observing and analysing the geopolitical, economic and strategic dynamics that shape our world. My work is to take political strategies apart, to understand global economic movements, to put the decisions of international actors in context and to offer analytical perspectives on the changes that are redefining our societies. I do not claim the cold objectivity of traditional journalism, which stops at reporting facts. **I claim analytical clarity**, rigorous interpretation and a deep understanding of the complex issues that concern us all. My role is to give meaning to the facts, to place them in their historical and strategic context, and to offer a critical reading of events. ### Method and sources This text keeps the basic distinction between **verified facts and interpretive analysis**. The rule never changes: a factual claim is published only when a verifiable source supports it, and the sources this article actually used are listed under **Sources**, never here. **Primary source families** used by the publication, when the story has them: official statements from governments and international institutions, public statements by political leaders, reports from intergovernmental organisations, dispatches from recognised international news agencies. **Secondary source families**: specialised publications, internationally recognised news media, analyses from established research institutions, reports from industry organisations. When an article cites statistical, economic or geopolitical data, it comes from the institutions that produce it (intergovernmental organisations, central banks, national statistics offices), and the exact institution is named under **Sources**. ### Nature of the analysis The analyses, interpretations and perspectives in the analytical sections of this article are a **critical, contextual synthesis** based on the information available, the trends observed and the expert comments cited in the sources consulted. My role is to interpret these facts, to set them in the context of today's geopolitical and economic dynamics, and to give them a coherent meaning within the larger story of the changes shaping our time. These analyses reflect expertise built through continuous observation of international affairs and an understanding of the strategic mechanisms that drive global actors. This article describes a documented state of affairs on its publication date, not a prediction: later developments may shift its outlook. No update is promised in advance; when an article is corrected or completed, the change is dated in the text. ## Sources ### Primary sources - [NATO — Secretary General's annual report on defense investment, March 2026](https://www.nato.int/en/news-and-events/articles/news/2026/03/26/nato-secretary-generals-annual-report-shows-significant-increase-in-defence-investment-from-europe-and-canada) - [Atlantic Council — NATO defense spending tracker](https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/commentary/trackers-and-data-visualizations/nato-defense-spending-tracker/) - [NATO — Defense expenditures and the 5% of GDP commitment](https://www.nato.int/en/what-we-do/introduction-to-nato/defence-expenditures-and-natos-5-commitment) ### Secondary sources - [Reuters — Europeans fill almost all gaps left by the United States, July 1, 2026](https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/europeans-fill-almost-all-gaps-left-by-us-nato-defence-plans-source-says-2026-07-01/) - [CNBC — European defense stocks benefit from rearmament, July 1, 2026](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/01/europe-defense-stocks-rearmament.html) - [Bain — Defense sector mergers and acquisitions report, 2026](https://www.bain.com/insights/defense-m-and-a-report-2026/) --- Source: Maxime Marquette, MadMax. When citing, name the author and link https://mad-max.co/en/article/a-ankara-lindustrie-de-defense-de-lotan-affiche-sa-nouvelle-force