Keynote speech

Good morning all.
It’s my pleasure to welcome you to NATO’s fourth annual Integrated Air and Missile Defence Conference.

Major General Pudāns, dear Kaspars, 
let me thank you personally,
and the staff of the Ministry of Defence,
for hosting this year’s conference in Latvia.

I am sorry that my agenda did not allow me to join you there at the National Defence Academy.

Latvia is a highly-valued NATO Ally.
You make important contributions to our collective defence.

Not only by hosting our multinational forward land forces, 
which I visited in Ādaži last November.
But also because you plan to spend 4 percent of GDP on defence this year. And you are pledging to move to 5 percent in the coming years.

This is an important investment in Latvia’s security.
And in the security of all of us.

It sends an unmistakable message.
That we are ready and willing to deter and defend all Allies, 
against any threat.
And it helps us to build a stronger, fairer and more lethal NATO, as we prepare for our Summit in The Hague next month.

To do this we need to invest more in defence.
And produce more - much, much more.
Not least when it comes to air and missile defence.

The scale of our ambition must reflect the scale of the challenges we face.

For more than three years of full-scale war, 
Russia has used a broad range of air and missile capabilities to attack Ukrainian homes, hospitals and civilian infrastructure.

We have seen an increasing number of airspace violations
into Allied airspace by Russian missiles and drones, 
especially here on our Eastern flank.

Iran and North Korea continue to develop, test and refine their missile programmes. 
And supply Russia with missiles.
The growing military cooperation between these and other actors is deeply concerning.

In the Middle East, 
terrorist groups and other non-state actors are increasingly using missiles, 
to disrupt vital shipping routes, affect global economies,
and threaten lives.

At the same time, there are rapid developments in missile technology. 
With increasingly sophisticated and more readily available weapon systems.

Both Russia and China, for example, have made significant progress on hypersonic technologies,
which have already been tested on the battlefield.

The air and missile threats to the Alliance are real. 
They are complex.
And they are truly 360-degrees in nature.

NATO needs to be ready to deal with these challenges.
And the good news is that we have already done a lot
to improve our readiness and responsiveness.

This includes developing a more agile and more relevant NATO integrated air and missile defence policy,
which we adopted at this February’s meeting of NATO Defence Ministers.

This new policy determines what we need to do in terms of operational and defence planning.

It is about having the right policies and plans,
supported by the right forces and capabilities,
in the right places, at the right time,
at the right level of readiness.
And making sure they can work seamlessly together across the Alliance. 

So we also need to continue to improve our interoperability.  
Moving forward, to continue to keep our skies safe, 
we need to produce more, better and together.
Across both sides of the Atlantic.

Producing more means building a much closer and more effective partnership within our defence industries.
To eliminate artificial barriers and duplication.  
And ensure that the increased investments and acquisitions across the Alliance produce the capabilities we need, and produce them faster.

Producing better means striking the right balance between meeting our urgent requirements now,
and investing in the technologies we need for the future.

In today’s world, we cannot plan to defend ourselves with more of the same capabilities.  
So we also need to focus on more research and development, and innovation.

Finally, producing more together means doing more among Allies.
And with our closest partners, 
notably the European Union and our Indo-Pacific partners.

NATO Allies are already stepping up.

They have invested in off-the-shelf air defence solutions, including IRIS-T, NASAMS and others. 

They have invested heavily in European production lines,
aggregating requirements, 
including for high-end missiles, such as Patriots. 

NATO’s Nordic Allies have been stepping up airborne air surveillance capabilities, as well as much-needed investments in ground-based air surveillance capabilities across Europe. 

A growing number of Allies are using innovative solutions in their procurement processes and are leveraging new technologies for future acquisitions. 

And multinational high visibility projects,
like the German-led European Sky Shield Initiative
bring Allies together and optimise their investments,
and increase effectiveness.

So a lot of good work has already been done.
But clearly we need to do much more.

And that is why this conference is so timely and important.

Today, we have brought together a wide range of experts from across the Alliance, and from some of our closest partners, to have an in-depth conversation about what we have already achieved and what more we can do.  

I encourage you to be frank, open, and even a little provocative in your discussions!
Because that is how we will best define our priorities, and prepare the important decisions NATO leaders will take in The Hague.

So thank you all for being here and I wish you a successful conference.
I am counting on you to continue to keep us safe!