NATO announced that a total of 26 of its member countries have committed to contribute in five new major projects to boost allied defense efforts. The commitments, signed during a two-day meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels that opened Thursday, included U.K. and U.S. support on three initiatives.
The two countries are contributing to NATO’s effort to boost the interchangeability and interoperability of key allied artillery munitions, a project wherein 13 other allies are participating. U.K. and U.S. support commitments were also extended to the alliance’s Distributed Synthetic Training Environment project with a total of 18 allies participating to establish a multinational network for virtual military training. The third new NATO project with U.K. and U.S. commitments along with 12 other countries is STARLIFT, which seeks ways to strengthen the alliance’s access and use of space assets.
Another NATO space-based project, NORTHLINK, drew U.S. support in partnership with 12 other countries to pursue the development of a multinational Arctic satellite communications capability.
The United Kingdom, on the other hand, has committed to contribute to the NATO project to step up the next-generation remotely piloted aircraft systems, an initiative wherein a total of 13 allies have committed to support.