Episode Details

Heads of State and Government from 32 nations will gather at this month’s NATO Summit in Ankara, Türkiye, looking to accelerate progress toward the goals agreed at The Hague Summit last year. The declaration pledged to strengthen collective defense by committing member nations to spend 5% of annual GDP on defense by 2035, deepen transatlantic defense industrial cooperation and reaffirmed support for Ukraine. 

But now, several factors are also heightening the stakes of the Ankara Summit: Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, recent conflicts in the Middle East and “NATO 3.0,” or the increased pressure on and intention of allies to take on greater defense investment and burden-sharing responsibilities. In response, there is growing momentum as NATO nations increasingly invest in defense capabilities, which presents an unprecedented call-to-action for the defense industrial base to respond in kind. 

In this month's episode of "The Elara Edge," Gen (Ret) James “Scorch” Hecker, Brig Gen (Ret) Chad Raduege, Tom Goffus and Brad Head preview the expectations, challenges, and broader context surrounding the upcoming NATO Summit in Ankara, Türkiye, on July 7-8th. 

Gen (Ret) Hecker previously served as the Commander of Allied Air Command at NATO and is a Senior Principal Advisor at Elara Nova. Brig Gen (Ret) Raduege is the former Chief Information Officer at Headquarters, U.S. European Command and is now the President of Elara Nova's Cyber, Data & Communications sector. Goffus recently left his post as Assistant Secretary General for Operations at NATO and now serves as an Executive Partner, Global Security at Elara Nova. Head is the former Chief of Defense Planning at the U.S. Mission to NATO and is now an Executive Partner, Global Growth at Elara Nova.

"The Elara Edge" is hosted and produced by Scott King of Elara Nova. The full story can be found on Elara Nova's Insights page here. Music was produced by Patrick Watkins of PW Audio.