NATO Announces 3 Billion Euro Investment In Cyber, Air, Missile Defense Technology

The NATO Communication and Information (NCI) Agency is announcing business opportunities in cyber, air and missile defence as well as advanced software, worth 3 billion EUR.

This comes in parallel to decisions taken at the Warsaw Summit to strengthen the Alliance's deterrence and defence, the NATO NCI said in a statement Wednesday.

The investments, planned between now and 2019, will further strengthen NATO's cyber and air defence, satellite communications, Response Force, as well as command and control for complex multinational operations. The first contracts have already been put out for tender, with more to come in 2016 and early 2017.

These will include: a major contract for NATO satellite communications worth 1.5 billion EUR, the procurement of advanced software, and a further strengthening of NATO's air defences.

From 7-8 September 2016, over 1,500 Industry representatives will meet with NATO officials and decision-makers to discuss current trends and the next generation of NATO cyber defence, at NIAS, NATO's annual cyber conference.

At the Warsaw Summit, Heads of State and Government have welcomed that collectively, Allies' defence expenditures have increased in 2016 for the first time since 2009. Output is also important, in particular deployability and sustainability of Allied forces. 

Koen Gijsbers, NCI Agency General Manager commented: "The contracts we're announcing focus on one of the core tasks of the Alliance, to connect and link national forces and capabilities into a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. By linking and connecting individual national capabilities NATO can do more that individual countries could do themselves."