Germany needs 60,000 extra troops to meet NATO targets

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius gives a press statement before the meeting of the International Contact Group (UDCG) to coordinate military support for Ukraine at NATO headquarters | Photo: Helena Dolderer/dpa

By Doris Pundy

Brussels: Germany’s military, the Bundeswehr, needs up to 60,000 more active soldiers in order to expand its defence capabilities as foreseen within NATO, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on Thursday.

NATO defence ministers are meeting in Brussels to agree on new targets for military capabilities for deterrence and defence.

Germany has been struggling to expand its military in recent years. According to the defence ministry, there were around 181,150 soldiers at the end of 2024, falling short of previous recruiting targets.

Challenging new NATO capacity targets

In order to ensure that the NATO goals are met, member states are to be assigned new national targets for their military capabilities, including weaponry.

Ahead of the meeting, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that air and missile defence, long-range weapons, logistics and large formations of land forces are among the alliance’s top priorities.

Under the new plans for the western defence alliance, the current targets are to be increased by around 30%, sources told dpa.

These new targets are considered to be a particularly difficult challenge because the current goals are far from being met. Senior military officials recently spoke of an existing gap of 30%.

Arriving at the defence ministers’ meeting on Thursday, Rutte stressed that increased capacity targets must go hand in hand with higher defence spending.

Increasing defence spending

“We already know we need to spend much, much more if we want to fulfil all these targets,” Rutte said, speaking alongside U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Leaders are expected to agree on a new target for military spending at an upcoming NATO summit later this month, after U.S. President Donald Trump demanded that allies spend 5% of their economic output on defence.

Currently, NATO allies are obliged to spend at least 2% of their gross domestic output (GDP) on defence.

“Every country has to contribute at that level of 5%, as a recognition of the nature of the threat,” said Hegseth.

“It has to be about the formations that we have. It’s that hard power that actually deters and it can’t just be U.S. capabilities,” he added.

Rutte recently proposed a compromise formula of increasing defence-related spending to 3.5% and spending an additional 1.5% on infrastructure. He assumes that the NATO states would agree to this.

The timeline for achieving the possible new spending targets has also yet to be finalized, with both 2032 and 2035 under discussion.

Other topics on the agenda of the defence ministers include support for Ukraine. Ukraine’s defence minister is expected to join NATO ministers for a discussion on the situation on the battlefield.