Nearly five months have passed since the June 2025 NATO summit in The Hague, where allied leaders unveiled what seemed like a bold new commitment – a collective defense-spending benchmark of 5% of GDP by 2035. The headline figure grabbed attention. But the devil is in the details. The new framework divides the pledge into two parts: 3.5% of GDP for traditional, “hard” defense accounts, such as personnel, equipment, operations, research and development. An additional 1.5% is for the broader