The Belgian Minister of Defence Theo Francken wants a strong “ecosystem” around Defence. He is working on establishing a new ‘Defence fund’, which should help bring the military budget to 2 per cent of gross domestic product by 2029.
90 per cent of the Defence fund’s income will go towards strategic purchases. Francken wants additional F-35 fighter jets; in addition, the Belgian army urgently needs extra ammunition. Retired General Marc Thys painted a bleak picture at the end of 2023 that “if war breaks out here, we would have to start throwing stones after just a few hours due to ammunition shortages”.
Defence industry provides ecosystem
The other 10 per cent will be invested in the Belgian defence industry. The minister wants to build a military ‘ecosystem‘, with clusters of companies all contributing to the defence industry.
In Wallonia, this already exists with the arms factory FN Herstal, but in Flanders it is still absent. Minister Francken told the federal parliament that “no one is blind to the geostrategic situation”. He recently visited entrepreneurs in Limburg who were enthusiastic about investing in military applications.