NATO to request seven additional brigades from Germany

NATO to ask Germany to provide seven more brigades for the alliance’s defense, approximately 40,000 soldiers.

This request is part of new targets for weapons and troop numbers, which defense ministers from member countries are set to agree upon next week.

NATO is significantly increasing its military capacity targets as it views Russia as a much greater threat since the Ukraine war.

A military official, speaking to Reuters, said the total number of brigades NATO allies will need to provide in the future will be increased to between 120 and 130.

This represents an increase of about 50% from the current target of approximately 80 brigades. A government source indicated that NATO’s total target is 130 brigades.

A spokesperson for the defense ministry in Berlin stated they could not preempt the decisions NATO defense ministers will make next week, nor those by NATO leaders at the summit at the end of June.

The spokesperson added, “Additionally, NATO’s force planning and capability targets are confidential for security reasons.”

In response to a request for comment, a NATO official said, “These targets are based on the forces and resources we need for deterrence and defense, according to our new defense plans.”

In 2021, Germany agreed to provide NATO with 10 brigades (units usually consisting of 5,000 soldiers) by 2030. Germany, which currently has eight brigades, is establishing a ninth brigade in Lithuania, slated to be ready in 2027.

However, providing an additional 40,000 active soldiers will present a major challenge for Berlin. According to Defense Ministry data, the Bundeswehr has not yet reached the target of 203,000 soldiers set in 2018 and currently faces a shortage of about 20,000 regular soldiers.

Last year, Reuters reported that NATO would need an additional 35 to 50 brigades to fully implement its defense plans against a Russian attack, and Germany alone would need to quadruple its air defense capacity.

Furthermore, according to sources, the new NATO targets do not yet reflect US plans to reduce troop numbers in Europe, a prospect that unnerves Europeans due to NATO’s defense plans being heavily reliant on US assets.

Washington has announced it will begin discussing reduction plans with allies later this year. US President Donald Trump has told Europeans that the US can no longer primarily focus on Europe’s security.

During the Cold War, Germany maintained 500,000 soldiers and 800,000 reserve forces. Today, along with Poland, it is tasked by NATO with providing a large part of the land forces that would be the first to respond to any Russian attack on the alliance’s eastern flank.

At the summit in The Hague next month, the alliance’s Secretary General Mark Rutte will request an agreement from national leaders to increase current spending targets from 2% of GDP to 5%. Of this figure, 3.5% will be allocated to defense and 1.5% to broader security-related expenditures.

In a historic change, Germany had relaxed its constitutional debt limit to increase defense spending and supported Rutte’s 5% target.

German Defense Minister Carsten Breuer has ordered the country’s armed forces to be fully equipped by 2029.

The alliance posits that by this date, Moscow will have sufficiently restructured its military forces to be capable of attacking NATO territory.