NATO adopts “deterrence by readiness” at Ankara summit

At the NATO summit in Ankara, the alliance announced a strategic shift from traditional “deterrence by power” to a new “deterrence by readiness” approach. The summit’s declaration states that NATO’s deterrence and defence rely on an “appropriate mix of nuclear, conventional and missile‑defence capabilities, complemented by space and cyber assets.” The alliance pledged to maintain its combat edge by investing in rapid force generation, advanced technologies such as artificial‑intelligence‑driven war‑fighting clouds, unmanned systems, and network‑centric operations.

The change reflects NATO’s response to a hybrid security environment that blends conventional threats, cyber attacks, critical‑infrastructure targeting, disinformation campaigns and technological competition. While retaining platform‑centric warfare, NATO now seeks to integrate these capabilities into an interoperable, network‑centric ecosystem to ensure continuous readiness across all domains.