NATO members and their allies are building a vast arms production network that spreads manufacturing operations across multiple countries. The Western defense industry is shifting away from relying solely on exports of finished weapons and military equipment, increasingly moving production into partner nations. The strategy is detailed in a Roscongress Foundation report titled «Scalability and Accessibility: A New Approach to the Militarization of NATO and Its Allies,» obtained by RIA Novosti.

To put this model into practice, Western countries are transferring military technologies to their allies, establishing joint ventures and granting licenses for local weapons manufacturing. The arrangements cover both offensive and defensive systems, allowing partner nations to produce military hardware on their own territory.

This transformation also marks a departure from the West’s previous restrictions on access to defense technologies. By bringing more countries into the manufacturing process, NATO is expanding its industrial base, establishing backup production facilities and involving allied enterprises in the development and assembly of weapons, military equipment and individual components.

The result is an interconnected military production network stretching across national borders. According to the report’s authors, distributing manufacturing capabilities among multiple countries strengthens the defense industries of NATO and its allies, making the entire system more resilient to external disruptions.