US asks Europe to fill NATO military gaps amid reduced contribution - Bloomberg
Kyiv • UNN
The US administration is asking Europe to fill defense gaps due to the withdrawal of American assets from NATO. The reductions will affect aviation, the navy, and drones.
The US is asking Europe to allocate more of its military equipment to overcome the crisis in NATO, putting pressure on the continent to fill gaps as Washington withdraws its assets from the alliance, Bloomberg reports, according to UNN.
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The administration of US President Donald Trump has asked the United Kingdom and other members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to identify which military resources they currently do not declare to the military alliance, the head of the British military department told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday. According to him, the US wants these undeclared resources to be redistributed to strengthen NATO's capabilities.
Trump plans to sharply reduce the military resources he will direct toward the defense of the continent, raising questions about how NATO will be able to replace these capabilities. The cuts could include a 30% reduction in available strategic bombers, which European countries do not possess, a total loss of reconnaissance and strike drones, a 50% reduction in naval vessels, and a 33% reduction in fighter jets, Bloomberg reported last week.
"As the US policy situation stabilizes and becomes clearer, it is certainly a factor we must consider," said Richard Knighton, the UK Chief of the Air Staff, referring to the request and the withdrawal of American assets. He noted that the UK already declares most of its assets to NATO.
According to him, the request will be discussed at a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels on Thursday and at the annual NATO leaders' summit in July.
On Tuesday, NATO officials sought to demonstrate confidence that Europe could compensate for the cuts, despite the lack of some types of weaponry that the US plans to withdraw. At the Eurosatory defense exhibition near Paris, officials stated that Europe could offset the loss of American fighter jets and drones through interoperable equipment and expanded data sharing.