NATO Proposes Huge 50% Increase in Number of Troops: Report

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Newsweek

Published May 29, 2025 at 8:23 AM EDT | Updated May 29, 2025 at 10:02 AM EDT


NATO will raise its target for how many troops its member states will need to provide for the alliance by up to 50 percent, according to a new report, ahead of crunch-time decisions on what members must do to prepare for a possible conflict with Russia. The 32 allies' current target of about 80 brigades would increase to between 120 and 130, an unnamed official has told Reuters.

The military bloc will ask Germany next week to contribute an additional seven brigades—amounting to roughly 40,000 troops—to bolster the alliance's collective defense capabilities, Reuters reported, citing three sources familiar with the discussions. Newsweek has reached out to the German government and NATO for comment via email.

Why It Matters

NATO officials have been ringing alarm bells increasingly louder over how much of a threat Russia will pose to the alliance in the next few years, particularly after inking a possible ceasefire deal in Ukraine that would free up hundreds of thousands of soldiers bogged down along the frontlines.

Assessments vary, but one judgment from Denmark's Defense Intelligence Service, published in February, said it believed Russia would be able to wage a "large-scale war" against NATO in the next five years if the U.S. declines to be involved. Some observers insist Moscow could be prepared to launch more limited assaults on NATO soil as little as six months after the end of the war in Ukraine.


Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/nato-proposes-huge-50-increase-number-troops-report-2078433

[dutch777]

2. Hope they improve their training as well. And do rotating stationing of brigades forward in Poland and Baltic States.

I was in the army in Europe in the late 1970s. West Germany then had over 2500 front line tanks and they were far superior to what we had at the time. I was flummoxed when they let that highly capable force wither to just 350 tanks and with it usually of that number 1/3 are out of service for some or another maintenance issue. I was never very impressed with most EU country forces, they were heavy on administrative falderol, not well organized or lead and most of the soldiers I met were very casual and did not seem engaged and well trained the way we were. US forces are even more capable and well trained now and not sure that most NATO countries have forces close to par with us. I have heard good things about the Poles and Finns but after that seems a lot of work needs to be done. Sorry they had to get here.

[EX500rider]

3. Yeah for far too long they treated their militaries as a jobs program rather then a fighting force

Also suspect they will need conscription to make those goals.

[SomewhereInTheMiddle]

4. Or they could use service as a path to citizenship ...

... for their growing immigrant population.

Trump pulling the US out of NATO leadership (literally or effectively) is a huge strategic mistake. Nothing could possibly go wrong with encouraging a peer competitor with whom we have fought multiple wars in the last 150 years to rearm and increase their military footprint.

But it is better for them and the world that the Europeans rearm than they fall to Russia and her allies.

What a world, what a world ...

[dutch777]

6. Good points. When the EU forces were larger they were all supported by a draft. Not a good attitude builder.