At the 2014 Wales Summit, NATO Allies adopted the Defence Investment Pledge. This pledge declared the importance of defence spending in the modern era, specifically emphasizing the allocation of at least 20% of defence expenditures towards investments in new equipment, including mandating essential research and development (R&D) to propel these advancements. The new 20% equipment benchmark was established to prevent equipment from becoming obsolete, specifically aimed to reduce capability and interoperability gaps amongst Allies and bolster the defence industrial and...