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 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.
Koen Gijsbers, NCI Agency General Manager, highlighted the strong partnership between NATO and Industry as he announced the investments. He stressed: “The ingenuity and creativity of our private sector has always been a source of strength for NATO. We, as an Alliance, have been able to maintain our technological edge over our adversaries for 67 years because the innovative capacity of our private sector is unparalleled. Today’s technological change is driven by Industry and as NATO we are engaging Industry early on to ensure we tap into that creativity. NATO will only be resilient if we embrace and can do continuous, rapid innovation.”
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.
Increase in defence spending
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.
Mr Gijsbers 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.”
