European nations want to spend big on artillery, missiles and drones, but costly military pension commitments risk constraining those ambitious plans, according to previously unreported NATO-member defense budget data compiled by Reuters.
NATO's European members are rushing to ramp up spending on military hardware as a bellicose Russia threatens their eastern flank and U.S. President Donald Trump's long-term commitment to European security appears suddenly in doubt.
But for over a dozen NATO members, pensions make up a large — and largely overlooked — chunk of their defense budgets.
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