There has been broad agreement among NATO allies to hike their defense spending target to 5% of gross domestic product.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said allies were ready to ramp up the target following a meeting of defense ministers in Brussels.

'We are really close' says NATO chief Rutte

"There's broad support," Rutte said after chairing talks at the the alliance's headquarters.

"We are really close," he said, and added that he has "total confidence that we will get there" by the next NATO summit taking place in the Hague, Netherlands in three weeks time.

NATO members currently commit to spending at least 2% of GDP on military expenditure, a target which around one third of the alliance still doesn't meet, including Portugal (1.55%), Italy (1.49%), Canada (1.37%), Belgium (1.3%) and Spain (1.28%).

Last month Germany accepted in principle, the demand from the US that NATO members raise defense budgets to 5% of GDP.

Germany currently spends just under 2% of its GDP on defense.

Rutte said priorities include spending on long-range weapons systems, air defense and mobile land forces. 

Russia's war machine, and its ongoing war in Ukraine, have increased urgency among NATO members about bolstering defense capacity in Europe. 

US defense secretary confident deal will be reached

At the same time, US President Donald Trump has been turning up the heat on NATO allies to boost spending targets, lest the US wind down its strategic support in Europe. 

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Thursday said that NATO members were close to a deal on spending ahead of the Hague summit.

"This alliance, we believe, in a matter of weeks, will be committing to five percent — 3.5% in hard military and 1.5% in infrastructure and defense-related activities," Hegseth said after meeting with NATO counterparts.

Spain standing firm at 2% target

Spain has been most vocal in its reluctance to hike spending and is only set to reach the alliance's current target of two percent of GDP by the end of this year.

"We think that this 2% is enough to meet the responsibilities we have committed to," Defence Minister Margarita Robles said.

Robles however said Madrid would not stand in the way of any decision to raise the spending target at the NATO summit later this month.

Edited by: Wesley Rahn