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———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-05 Jun 25. Hegseth, NATO Leader Find Common Ground on Defense Spending. While jointly speaking at a NATO defense meeting in Brussels today, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte both stated an increase in defense spending targets — by both the United States and NATO ally countries — is essential to deterring the coming threats that are posed by anti-Western aggressors.
“Today will be an important meeting, because we will agree on the capability targets we need going forward to keep one billion people safe in NATO territory,” Rutte said.
“From this, we will decide, at the NATO summit, the spending; and we already know we need to spend much, much more if we want to fulfill all these targets,” Rutte continued, while referring to an upcoming, annual meeting in The Hague.
The 2025 Hague summit is scheduled to take place June 24-26.
After thanking Rutte for his hospitality, Hegseth said that he was on a veritable mission in Europe to make sure that every NATO member nation contributes enough of their reasonable share toward unified defense against foreign aggressors.
“The reason I’m here is to make sure every country in NATO understands every shoulder has to be to the plow; every country has to contribute — at that level of 5% — as a recognition of the nature of the threat,” Hegseth said.
Hegseth went on to say that the United States is both proud to stand with its allies while also making sure that America’s geopolitical pursuit of peace through strength does not equate to reliance in a world of multiple threats.
“[The goal is] deterrence and peace through strength, but it can’t be reliance,” Hegseth said.
“It cannot — and will not — be reliance on America in a world of a lot of threats where America is poised to help take on those threats.”
Hegseth then thanked Rutte for having “hard and necessary” conversations with him over the matter of mutual, nation defense.
“We need to be considering the threats we face in the world today, and have that conversation robustly and constructively,” Hegseth said.
Hegseth’s stance on NATO has been consistent since he took office in early January of this year.
In early February, he called for all NATO allied countries to increase their defense spending and take the lead in providing for Ukraine and Europe’s security.
Later that month, he praised the U.S. alliance with Poland during a joint press conference with that country’s defense minister in Warsaw.
Hegseth also thanked the Rutte for being a strong ally.
“We need our allies to step up, as well as we stand alongside them,” Hegseth told Rutte, adding that “those hard conversations” will continue.
“Pete, thank you for being here; thank you for your leadership; and thank you for being such a staunch ally,” Rutte said. (Source: U.S. DoD)
05 Jun 25. The UK’s latest Regional Defence and Security Cluster (RDSC) was officially launched today – the launch event took place at Lockheed Martin UK’s advanced manufacturing facility in Bedfordshire.
This strategic initiative, a collaboration between the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA), industry, academia, local authorities, and Small, Medium-sized Enterprises, marks a significant milestone in strengthening the UK’s regional defence innovation landscape.
The East RDSC aims to drive innovation, foster collaboration, and stimulate economic growth across the defence and security sectors. The East region, comprised of Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, and Bedfordshire plays host to a huge array of technical capability. The cluster will serve as a catalyst for the development and advancement of cutting-edge technologies to address the UK’s evolving security needs.
Rt. Hon. Maria Eagle MP, Minister for Defence Procurement and Industry said: “Technological innovation is vital to staying ahead of our adversaries, and our commitment to actioning the recommendations of the Strategic Defence Review will ensure we deliver a full range of cutting-edge capabilities to our armed forces. However, this work cannot be delivered alone. Collaborations between government, academia and companies of varying sizes will be at the heart of that delivery. I look forward to the work with the RDSC both to deliver for our personnel and boost regional growth.”
The launch reflects the growing importance of regional collaboration in enhancing national security capabilities. The East of England has an existing industrial base, innovative SMEs, and several academic institutions – the cluster will aim to grow this community.
Anita Friend, Head of DASA commented: “I am very pleased to support today’s launch of the East Regional Defence and Security Cluster, and I congratulate the local government, industry and academic stakeholders in the region on their achievement. In supporting the creation of Regional Defence and Security Clusters, the MOD and my team in DASA recognised that collaboration between the established industry suppliers, SMEs and academia, supported by regional partnerships, was key to increasing the diversity in the regions to develop, exploit and commercialise advanced innovation for defence and security.
“The East RDSC will have a vital central role in fostering that collaboration for the East of England as part of the growing network of regional clusters.”
The cluster will focus on:
• Encouraging innovation through research and development
• Fostering relationships and building partnerships
• Facilitating knowledge transfer between academia, industry, and government
• Leveraging expertise from SMEs and emerging tech firms
• Providing a clear route for non-traditional suppliers to enter the Defence market
• Growing a talent pipeline to ensure a skilled future workforce
• Strengthening supply chains and export opportunities
This launch signals a new chapter for defence innovation in the East of England, helping ensure the UK remains at the forefront of global security and defence technology development.
For more information about the East of England Defence and Security Cluster, please visit www.eastrdsc.co.uk.
05 Jun 25. Pentagon chief confident NATO will commit to Trump’s defence spending target. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday he was confident that members of the NATO alliance will sign up to Donald Trump’s demand for a major boost in defence spending, adding that it had to happen by a summit later in June.
The U.S. president has said NATO allies should boost investment in defence to 5% of gross domestic product, up from the current target of 2%.
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“To be an alliance, you got to be more than flags. You got to be formations. You got to be more than conferences. You need to be, keep combat ready capabilities,” Hegseth said as he arrived at a gathering of NATO defence ministers in Brussels.
“We’re here to continue the work that President Trump started, which is a commitment to 5% defence spending across this alliance, which we think will happen,” Hegseth said, adding: “It has to happen by the summit at The Hague later this month.”
Diplomats have said European allies understand that hiking defence expenditure is the price of ensuring a continued U.S. commitment to the continent’s security and that keeping the U.S. on board means allowing Trump to be able to declare a win on his 5% demand during the summit, scheduled for June 24-25.
“We have to go further and we have to go faster,” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte told reporters on Wednesday.
“A new defence investment plan will be at the heart of the NATO summit in The Hague,” he added.
In a bid to meet Trump’s 5% goal, Rutte has proposed alliance members boost defence spending to 3.5% of GDP and commit a further 1.5% to broader security-related spending, Reuters has reported.
Details of the new investment plan will likely continue to be negotiated until the eve of the NATO summit.
“We have to find a realistic compromise between what is necessary and what is possible really to spend,” German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on Wednesday.
Countries remain divided over the timeline for a new pledge.
Rutte has proposed reaching the 5% by 2032 – a date that some eastern European states consider too distant but which some others see as too early and unrealistic given current spending and industrial production levels.
There is also an ongoing debate over how to define “defence-related” spending, which might include spending on cybersecurity and certain types of infrastructure.
“The aim is to find a definition that is precise enough to cover only real security-related investments, and at the same time broad enough to allow for national specifics,” said one NATO diplomat. (Source: Reuters)
02 Jun 25. Poland: Nationalist presidential victory will drive policy impasse, impede rapprochement with EU. On 1 June, Karol Nawrocki, the candidate backed by the conservative-nationalist opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, won Poland’s presidential election. Nawrocki secured 50.9% of the vote compared to 49.1% for the centrist government-backed candidate, Rafał Trzaskowski. The continuation of co-habitation (whereby the president and government are opposed to one another) represents a major setback for Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government. Nawrocki will almost certainly wield the presidential veto to stymie key elements of the government’s agenda, including major campaign pledges such as easing access to contraception. PiS will regard Nawrocki’s victory as helping to pave the way for a return to power at the next general election in 2027. The government sets the foreign policy agenda in Poland. However, Nawrocki, who is widely supported by the US Republican party, will promote closer Polish alignment with the US. We assess that Narwocki will almost certainly block government policy that leads to a further improvement in relations with the EU, such as any attempt to reverse PiS-era judicial reforms that undermined judicial independence. (Source: Sibylline)
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