Seven NATO Allies Plan to Jointly Acquire Maritime Munitions

Seven North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Allies signed a Letter of Intent on Multinational Cooperation for the Provision of Maritime Battle Decisive Munitions (MBDM) in Brussels during the NATO Summit (11 and 12 July 2018).

The plan covers a broad range of munition types, including surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missiles, torpedoes, and gun shells, NATO said in a press statement Wednesday.

Under this agreement, Belgium, France, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, and Spain plan to combine munitions purchases in order to achieve economies of scale – and thus lower prices.

The potential establishment of common warehousing solutions could lower costs even further.

NATO’s Assistant Secretary General for Defence Investment, Camille Grand, welcomed the initiative, calling it “an important first step on the road towards creating European stockpiles of maritime munitions to meet our evolving needs. Over time, it will increase our interoperability, our ability to share our munitions and to work smoothly and effectively together, whatever the circumstances.”

This initiative follows similar efforts by NATO Allies and partners within the air and land domains. The first joint acquisitions are expected in the near future.