Nearly five months have passed since the June 2025 NATO summit in The Hague, where allied leaders unveiled what seemed like a bold new commitment – a collective defense-spending benchmark of 5% of GDP by 2035. The headline figure grabbed attention. But the devil is in the details.

The new framework divides the pledge into two parts: 3.5% of GDP for traditional, “hard” defense accounts, such as personnel, equipment, operations, research and development.

An additional 1.5% is for the broader category of defense- and security-related spending, meant to cover investments that make societies more resilient, like critical infrastructure protection, cyber defense, military mobility, civil preparedness, and support for the defense-industrial base.

Yet, as often in diplomacy, this political comp

See Full Page