NATO allies expand High Visibility Projects with ballistic missile defence pact

Seven NATO members including the UK have agreed a joint-development deal to bolster their air defence capabilities as part of the alliance’s Integrated Air and Missile Defence (IAMD) High Visibility Projects.

Belgium, Denmark, France, The Netherlands, Norway, Turkey, and the UK signed the agreement, which involves jointly developing, acquiring, and implementing sensors, interce ptors, and tactical control systems, complementing existing air defence capabilities.

The deal was signed at NATO’s Brussels headquarters on 12 February.    

NATO members signed three further agreements at the same NATO meeting this February.

1. Denmark, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, and Turkey are collaborating on the development of an uncrewed deep precision strike capability.

2. 15 countries including Canada, France, Turkey and Germany are looking at collaborating on improving air power resilience, readiness and interoperability. This includes design, modification, maintenance, repair and servicing.

3. Sweden joined the Air Battle Decisive Munitions High Visibility Project, bringing the total number of participating nations to 17. The project supports the acquisition of air-launched munitions.

NATO Deputy Secretary General Radmila Shekerinska described these initiatives as a fundamental step towards achieving the commitments made at the NATO 2025 Summit in The Hague.

The organisation said these deals stemmed from its members commitment at NATO’s 2025 Summit in The Hague to spend 5% of GDP on defence by 2035.

NATO's High Visibility Projects are multinational cooperative initiatives relating to  critical defence capabilities. The aim is to combine resources and build them in a fast and cost-effective manner.

As of early 2026, there were 32 active projects spanning nine capability categories: command and control, training structures, high-end acquisition, air and missile defence, military mobility, ammunition, CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear defence), space technologies, and digital transformation.