USA wants to significantly reduce NATO military contributions

According to the German news magazine, the USA is planning to send significantly fewer strategic bombers to NATO Spiegel reports a “halving of the previous number”. The number of US fighter jets should therefore fall by a third. US envoy Alexander Velez Green, senior adviser to the US Secretary of Defense for Policy, said: Elbridge Colbysenior officials from NATO partners told the closed-door meeting.

The US Navy should also have fewer destroyers available for NATO, and the US no longer wants to supply submarines to the NATO alliance. The Europeans should also provide their own drones for reconnaissance. The USA wants to significantly reduce its involvement in armed models.

Washington has long been calling on Canada and its European partners to take on more responsibility in the defense of NATO territory. In addition to the withdrawal of US troops from Europe, this also includes “burden shifting” in command structures and military capabilities.

Rutte reassuringly

The reduction now reported would relate to the NATO Force Model, which describes which country provides NATO with how many soldiers and military equipment and how quickly in the event of an operation.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said last week that he could not yet comment on the “top secret” planning, “but I think this corresponds exactly to our expectations and is absolutely within the framework of the approach that there should be no surprises.” The process is “nothing new,” emphasized Rutte. “Everyone knew this was going to happen.”