in late February,

many NATO members, including the US,

Germany and Poland have pledged support

in the form of money.

- $800 million.

- 600 Danish krones.

- 300 million pounds.

- [Narrator] And weapons.

- Canada will be sending heavy artillery.

- [Narrator] And in addition to aid,

some in the Western military alliance

are also boosting their own defenses.

- Germany pulled out all the stops.

They're buying heavy cargo military helicopters.

They're going to modernize the armed forces

across the board.

- Those immediately bordering Ukraine,

I'm thinking Romania here and Poland as well,

they're talking about tanks,

they're talking very specifically

about anti-missile systems.

- [Narrator] So as Russia unleashes new threats,

raising concerns that the war could escalate outside

of Ukraine, here's how some NATO countries

are looking to upgrade their military capabilities.

One major step to strengthen the West's ability

to deter Moscow was announced by Germany.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the country

would boost military spending above 2% of GDP

and invest the equivalent of $113 billion in weaponry.

This graph illustrates that spike

in Germany's defense spending.

- They're buying F-35s.

That's sort of the most modern

jet fighter war plane produced by the United States

and many, if not most of the NATO members

are using it at the moment.

- [Narrator] The aircraft is popular

with NATO countries because of its ability

to evade radar detection.

Its aligned edges contribute to that ability.

It can also carry weapons internally or externally,

including long-range precision missiles,

depending on the environment.

It can reach a speed of mach 1.6

and has an extended range of more than 1,350 miles

with internal fuel.

The F-35s will replace aging Tornado aircraft

in Germany's arsenal.

Many countries in Western Europe,

including Germany reduced their military capabilities

after the Cold War.

- I think lessons learned from Ukraine

and the invasion was that countries

are now looking at where to strategically stockpile weapons

and ensuring that they have the correct capabilities

for the threat.

- [Narrator] As countries such as Germany

shift their defense priorities,

in the east of Europe, nations have been preparing

for a potential conflict for longer.

- For many decades, for years,

the eastern flank of NATO countries

like Poland, countries like Estonia or Lithuania

and the Baltics have been acutely aware

of the aggression potential of Vladimir Putin's regime,

and they have been warning their Western peers.

- [Narrator] Analysts say they've seen

Poland's defense budget sustain growth

over the last eight years,

following Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Prior to the latest invasion of Ukraine,

Warsaw began negotiations to buy 250 Abrams tanks

and other military vehicles.

In the wake of the war,

Poland signed a $4.75 billion deal

and wants to accelerate the delivery of the weapons.

- They have big advantages

over the aging Soviet-built tanks

that Poland already operates.

The most important being

is that they're less vulnerable.

- [Narrator] The Abrams M1A2 SEPV3

is a modernized version of the Abrams main battle tank.

It's fitted with armor in its hull and turret,

designed to protect against threats from explosives.

The tank can be hinged with reactive armor

and slat armor

and it can be fitted with a signal jammer

to counter radio-activated IEDs.

- You've seen huge tank losses by Russian forces in Ukraine.

The Abrams is just a different design

and very simply, it's less vulnerable

to the kind of anti-tank weapons you've seen deployed

by Ukrainian forces.

- [Narrator] In addition to spending on new tanks,

Poland is sending some of its older T-72 models

to Ukraine, which has been requesting weapons assistance

since the war began in late February.

- Ultimately, countries can only donate

what would still enable them

to have the special capabilities

that they need for their own security.

- [Narrator] Analysts countries such as Poland

are using new spending proposals

to enhance their military capabilities

while sending older stock to Kyiv.

- If there wasn't that commensurate increase in spending,

then the donations would potentially create a gap.

- [Narrator] As some nations try to bolster defenses

and increase military budgets amid the Ukraine conflict,

the US weapons industry could benefit.

- The US is by far the biggest spender on weapons

in the world and also the biggest exporter.

So it's to be expected that a lot of the arms

being talked about by European countries

will come from there.

- [Narrator] But supply chain issues

have made it difficult

for some US companies to keep up with demand

and larger weapons could take years

to be delivered in part

because of lengthy contract negotiations.

- With this uptick in spending that we're seeing

in a few countries,

faster way of achieving more sort

of lethal capability is through weapons

and enhancements and upgrades

to existing platforms.