Contributions can also include any type of material, from armored vehicles, naval vessels or helicopters to all forms of equipment or support, medical or otherwise. These contributions are provided by individual Allies and are taken from their overall defense capability to form a combined Alliance capability, with each covering the costs associated with their deployments. 2% Defense Investment Guideline: In 2006, NATO Defense Ministers agreed to commit a minimum of 2% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to defense spending to continue to ensure the military readiness of Alliance.
This guide also serves Botswana Email List as an indicator of a country's political will to contribute to NATO's joint defense efforts, as each member's defense capacity has an impact on the overall perception of the Alliance's credibility as a politico-military organization. The combined wealth of non-US allies, measured in GDP, is almost equal to that of the United States. However, non-US allies collectively spend less than half of what the United States spends on defense.
This imbalance has been constant, with variations, throughout the history of the Alliance and has become more pronounced since the tragic events of September 11, 2001, after which the United States significantly increased defense spending. The volume of US defense spending represents roughly two-thirds of the Alliance's defense spending as a whole. However, this is not the amount that the United States contributes to the operational direction of NATO, which is shared with all allies according to the principle of common funding.