As NATO leaders gather in Ankara, Turkey, for their annual summit this week, a landmark UK-led multinational weapons development program has taken center stage. Twelve allied nations including the United Kingdom have committed to invest more than £37 billion ($50 billion) over the next decade to develop a cutting-edge long-range precision missile system, a project billed as one of the most ambitious defensive upgrades in the alliance’s recent history.
The newly announced Deep Precision Strike initiative will be a core topic of discussion among participating leaders on Wednesday, marking one of the key policy announcements of Keir Starmer’s final NATO summit as UK prime minister. Ahead of the meeting, Starmer has positioned the program as a unifying European-led effort to bolster collective defense. “This UK-led initiative will help bring European allies together to keep NATO safe for years to come,” the prime minister said, framing the project as a critical step toward delivering on his pledge to build “a stronger, more European NATO.”
Designed to strike high-value enemy targets with extreme accuracy at ranges up to 300 kilometers (nearly 200 miles), with potential future extensions out to 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles), the new missile system is intended to disrupt enemy supply lines, neutralize key military infrastructure, and deter potential aggressors. Like many large-scale advanced military development projects, the Deep Precision Strike system is not projected to enter operational service until the 2030s. It builds on the UK’s existing long-term defense commitments, which include a £300 billion Defence Investment Plan allocated through 2030.
The summit comes amid growing tensions between NATO and Russia, and mounting pressure from US President Donald Trump on alliance members to increase defense spending. Last year, nearly all NATO members agreed to a target of spending 3.5% of GDP on defense by 2035, with an updated target of 5% for total defense and security spending by the same deadline. Starmer is expected to face criticism from Trump for failing to release a concrete timeline to hit the 3.5% target during this week’s meetings.
In June, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth launched a six-month strategic review of US force posture across Europe, a move aligned with Trump’s long-standing position that European allies must carry a larger share of the continent’s defense burden. Ahead of the summit, Starmer has sought to shore up support for European-led defense integration within NATO, emphasizing the growing threat Russia poses to alliance territory. UK government data shows NATO fighter jets have scrambled more than 700 times this year alone to intercept Russian aircraft approaching allied airspace, while Russian military activity near UK territorial waters has jumped 30% compared to previous periods.
“Whilst NATO did not seek confrontation with Russia, it must be ready to defend every ally,” Starmer is set to tell fellow leaders. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper expanded on the strategic purpose of the new missile program, noting that the capability would allow allies to disrupt the core military logistics that sustain offensive operations. “At Ankara we are sending a clear message to [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin; NATO is stronger, more European and ready to defend our citizens against the long-term threat posed by him and the Russian state,” Cooper said.
The initiative also aligns with lessons drawn from Ukraine’s ongoing defense against Russia’s full-scale invasion, now in its third year. On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky used his summit address to urge allies to accelerate deliveries of urgently needed air defense systems, as Russia ramps up airstrikes across Ukrainian territory. Ukraine has already demonstrated the game-changing impact of long-range strike capabilities, carrying out repeated attacks on Russian oil refineries, logistics hubs, and military positions deep inside Russian territory. These strikes have caused widespread fuel shortages and power disruptions in Russia, and significantly degraded Moscow’s ability to sustain its offensive operations in Ukraine, according to a Downing Street briefing.
“Ukraine’s Armed Forces have proved that the effective use of long-range systems can have game-changing impacts on the battlefield, giving the Armed Forces the ability to degrade enemy forces far behind the frontline,” a Number 10 spokesperson said. “Ukrainian long-range strikes, such as those on key logistics hubs, have significantly impacted Russia’s ability to sustain their offensives.”
For its part, the Kremlin has responded to the summit’s agenda with a firm rejection of the alliance’s confrontational framing. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday that Russia would closely monitor all discussions and outcomes from the Ankara gathering, reaffirming that Moscow would continue its military operation in Ukraine until all its stated objectives are met. Peskov dismissed new weapons pledges to Ukraine as unable to alter the course of the conflict, noting that most summit statements about Russia have been adversarial rather than constructive. “To our regret, these were not statements about constructive engagement and dialogue but rather statements of a confrontational nature,” Peskov said. He added that Russia still views a political and diplomatic settlement of the conflict as the preferable outcome.