13 Allies and one NATO partner expand munitions cooperation amid significant success
Thirteen Allies and one partner nation have on 19 February committed to creating a multinational solution for addressing all of their air munition needs.
The Defence Ministers of Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, the United Kingdom, and partner nation Finland, signed an amendment to the Memorandum of Understanding on the Air-to-Ground Precision Guided Munitions (A2G-PGM) High Visibility Project, expanding it into a more comprehensive Air Battle Decisive Munitions (ABDM) framework.
This expansion will leverage the success of the first and second acquisition cycles of the A2G-PGM project. Through these, participants achieved cost savings of around 15 to 20 percent, and accelerated the delivery of munitions by up to one year. It is expected that similar positive results will be achieved for a broader range of air munition types. The amendment to the Memorandum of Understanding was signed in the margins of the virtual Defence Ministerial Meeting.
Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoană congratulated the participants by highlighting their incremental approach: “The participating Nations have quickly proved the concept, validated its potential, and are now taking this winning formula to the next level. This is innovation. And this is how NATO is becoming more agile every day.”