Foreword
Richard Thomas
Editor-in-chief
As we sit a little over halfway through the year, it is clear that in the first half of 2025 defence dynamics accelerated across all warfighting domains.
Within this, it is possible to see Nato’s landmark decision at the Hague Summit in June wherein member states pledged to raise defence spending to 5% of GDP – with 3.5% committed to what might be considered core military capabilities – with a further 1.5% dedicated to critical national infrastructure and cyber resilience. In no small part has this been driven by a shift in US policy towards defence of the European continent.
Meanwhile, the European Commission has been keen to harness this new defence zeitgeist across Europe, initiating the Readiness 2030 initiative to mobilise up to €800bn in funding for military upgrades among EU member states.This could set the battleground for a future content between the US and the EU, as Washington, while simultaneously withdrawing military support and assets from Europe, wants European countries to spend more of its resources on equipment sourced from the US’ defence industrial sector.
The transnational levers of power that control Europe, in contrast, want to strategically detach its member states from reliance on US military gear, with a preference towards multinational, cooperative programmes, such as seen with the CAVS armoured vehicle.
Painting the backdrop to all of this is a global security environment at its most fractured since the end of the Cold War, with an ongoing war in Ukraine, Israeli operations in Gaza and over Syria, Iran, and Lebanon, the latest deadly clash between India and Pakistan, and a violent indication of border tensions with Cambodia and Thailand.
Also consider the impact on international relations that US President Donald Trump’s tariff and trade war might have on industries that are part of the global defence sector supply chain, and we can see that H2 is likely to see the instability continue, at best, and potentially get significantly worse.
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