ARMS manufacturers are set to rake in bumper profits after Nato announced plans today to place its members on a permanent war footing.

After almost two years of proxy war with Russia, one of Nato’s top commanders said that Western armies and political leaders must drastically change the way they help the 31-nation alliance fend off invading forces.

Over two days of talks in Brussels, Nato’s top officers are expected to work out plans for military exercises later this year that are set to be the biggest in Europe since end of the cold war. 

Many analysts predict that Nato is hurtling towards a catastrophic defeat in its war against Russia in Ukraine.

In a move designed to set Nato members on a permanent war footing, Admiral Rob Bauer, chairman of the alliance’s military committee, appealed for a “whole-of-society” approach to the challenge that goes beyond military planning.

He said: “We need public and private actors to change their mindset for an era in which everything was plannable, foreseeable, controllable and focused on efficiency to an era in which anything can happen at any time, an era in which we need to expect the unexpected.”

A permanent war economy creates the opportunity for arms manufacturers to massively increase their profits. 

Military equipment companies have already seen a large spike in their value since the Israeli assault on Palestinians in Gaza began in early October.

One of the world’s top arms firms, Lockheed Martin, saw the daily return on its stocks surge from 0.85 per cent on October 6 to a staggering 8.93 per cent on October 9.

In Norway, the government said it was earmarking  two billion kroner (about £150 million) for munitions, claiming that there was “a need for large quantities of ammunition.”

Defence Minister Bjorn Arild Gram said that “increasing capacity in the defence industry is important, both for Ukraine but also to safeguard our own security.”