Nato to spend £2.6 billion on satellites, cyber security and drones

Nato will announce plans to spend €3bn (£2.6bn) on upgrading its satellite and computer technology over the next three years, a senior official has said.

As the alliance adapts to new types of warfare it hoped the technology will deter hackers, as the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) acknowledges conflicts are increasingly fought out online rather than in the air, on land or at sea.

The plans include a €1.7bn (£1.5bn) investment in satellite communications to better support troops and ships deployed across the alliance, as well as aiding the use of drones, a senior official at the Nato Communications and Information Agency said.

Around €800m (£690m) spent on computer systems that help command air and missile defences.

However, some of the funding is still subject to approval by the individual Nato governments.

It was not immediately clear if Nato allies would fund a new military communications satellite to be launched into space or if an increase in broadband capacity could be gained from existing US and other allied satellites.

An investment of €71m (£61m) will go to improving the protection of Nato's 32 main locations from cyber attacks and another €180m (£155m) is to be spent to provide more secure mobile communications for alliance soldiers in the field.

It comes at a time of heightened tensions between Nato and Russia. The Kremlin has been accused of sponsoring attacks on Nato networks before major summits.

An investigation into Russia’s influence on the US election is also currently underway after both the FBI and the CIA concluded the Kremlin had intervened to help Donald Trump win.

Russian hackers have also been blamed by Western intelligence for the hacking of the emails of several leading members of the Democrat party on the eve of their national conference.

Mr Trump, who has called the hacking claims a “political witchhunt”.

Nato will present its needs in detail at a conference in Ottawa in April and will then begin launching the bidding process.

It is likely to attract major Western defence contractors including Airbus Group, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin Corp as contractors from non-Nato companies are unable to bid.

Nato rules prohibit Russian or Chinese suppliers unless there is a specific need that allied companies cannot provide.