Latvia's defence minister urges NATO to decentralise weapons production like Ukraine

At a briefing, Latvia's defence minister Raivis Melnis argued that NATO's current, highly concentrated defence manufacturing approach is vulnerable to targeted attacks, unlike Ukraine's fragmented system. He highlighted how Ukrainian arms makers spread production across several sites, operate underground and regularly move operations to avoid a single devastating hit. Melnis urged Latvian firms to partner with Ukrainian counterparts to adopt these tactics and integrate combat-tested designs.

Ukrainian deputy secretary Davyd Aloian and executives from Frontline Robotics, TechEx, Ark Robotics and other firms confirmed they are already advising NATO companies on dispersal. Companies such as Estonia's Krattworks and Croatia's ORQA have begun to shift toward distributed production, despite higher costs. Melnis sees this shift as essential for maintaining supply lines and deterring Russian aggression.