Stark choices confront constrained UK (Opinion)
Rishi Sunak holds an NLAW ATGM launcher during a recent visit to the Thales facility in Belfast. (Photo: Paul Faith/Alamy)
The NATO Summit in Madrid on 28-30 June marked the first meeting of leaders from across the alliance since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Events since then have rejuvenated NATO, taking an organisation that had been moribund and struggling to sustain its relevance in an era of ‘Indo-Pacific tilts’ and helping to put European security at the heart of national security agendas.
As a result, the Madrid summit saw several highly significant changes to policies and commitments that will help reframe how the alliance operates.
The most significant of these is the return to a Cold War-era
Our news & analysis is now part of Defence Insight®
A Basic-level or higher Defence Insight subscription is now required to view this content.
More from Defence Notes
-
Eurosatory 2026: New public security needs drive personal protection equipment modernisation
European law enforcement and public security agencies are entering a new cycle of investment in personal protection equipment (PPE), driven by evolving threat profiles, officer welfare requirements and advances in materials technology.
-
Eurosatory 2026: Milrem Robotics puts forward multi-layered defence concept for NATO’s eastern flank
Autonomous systems developer Milrem has evolved a model for an interoperable robotised approach to the Eastern Flank Deterrence Initiative (EFDI), showing how uncrewed systems could provide a multi-layered defence architecture in the air and on land along NATO’s eastern borders.
-
Eurosatory 2026 to highlight changing defence and security priorities
Eurosatory 2026 will reflect a defence and security sector shaped by conflict, rising government spending, uncrewed systems, multidomain networks and growing demand for sovereign capabilities.
-
Delays, departures and drama cloud UK defence programmes ahead of absent DIP
The UK defence secretary’s departure suggests that the long-delayed Defence Investment Plan is unlikely to meet the funding demands of the armed forces, with consequences for procurement and the UK’s standing at a NATO summit weeks away.