Europe will need 25 years and $1 trillion to replace the US contingent on its territory - Politico

Europe can exist without military support from the United States, but a full replacement of American troops with European ones will take a quarter of a century and up to one trillion dollars. This is reported by UNN with reference to Politico.

Details

A study by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), published on Thursday, showed that a hypothetical US withdrawal from Europe would make NATO members on the continent vulnerable to the Russian threat and face a "difficult choice" on how to fill the huge gaps.

The cost of a similar replacement of American equipment and personnel would be approximately one trillion dollars over 25 years, according to the study. This includes one-time procurement costs of between $226 billion and $344 billion — depending on the quality of the equipment purchased — and additional costs associated with military maintenance, personnel and support.

The most expensive item on the shopping list will be 400 tactical combat aircraft, followed by 20 destroyers and 24 long-range surface-to-air missiles.

IISS also estimated that in the event of a large-scale military operation to counter a Russian attack, the cost of replacing US personnel (estimated at 128,000 troops) would exceed $12 billion.

The estimate does not take into account other obvious gaps that are more difficult to assess. These include command and control, coordination, space, intelligence and surveillance, as well as the cost of nuclear weapons.

Europeans will also have to take on certain leadership positions, such as the position of Supreme Commander of the Allied Armed Forces in Europe — the commander of NATO on the continent and the second highest military position. With the departure of the US, they will also have to step up diplomatic coordination efforts.

Addition

The European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust) has launched a large-scale international investigation into alleged corruption schemes in the procurement of military equipment for the North Atlantic Alliance.