NATO investing heavily in defense technology.

• Author: Machi, Vivienne
• Position: Global Defense

* NATO plans to invest nearly $3.9 billion in defense technology between now and 2019, according to a recent press release.

The investments focus on strengthening NATO's cyber and air defense, satellite communications, response force, and command-and-control for complex multinational operations, the release said. The first contracts include a major program for NATO satellite communications worth nearly $1.7 billion, a new acquisition for advanced software and more air defenses.

"Today's technological change is driven by industry.... We are engaging industry early on to ensure we tap into that creativity," said NATO Communications and Information Agency General Manager Koen Gijbers in the press release. "NATO will only be resilient if we embrace and can do continuous, rapid innovation."

This year saw NATO allies' defense expenditures increase for the first time since 2009, according to the release.

The investments are likely linked to NATO's efforts to deter increased aggression from Russia, said Thomas Karako, a missile defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.

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"Back in 2010, missile defense [investment] was almost exclusively about Iran," he said. But it is clear that NATO has "seized on the Russia problem," he added.

There are numerous possible solutions to the overall ballistic and cruise missile threat posed by Russia towards the Baltic states and other NATO allies, but Karako said the...