Posted on 03/24/2025 6:05:19 AM PDT by hardspunned
BRUSSELS — As President Donald Trump upends U.S. foreign policy, negotiating closer relations with Russia, threatening NATO allies and pausing cooperation with Ukraine, Washington’s traditional partners — and best customers — are rethinking their dependence on American weapons systems.
From Canada to Europe, calls are growing to steer future defense spending away from U.S. equipment and toward their own industries, even as many concede there is no quick fix after decades of dependence. The U.S. pause of intelligence-sharing with Ukraine this month, and Trump’s threats to annex Canada and Greenland, have laid bare the risks of counting on the United States — and raised concerns about whether Washington could ground jets or turn off launchers remotely as a pressure tactic.
Even if such a “kill switch” is a myth, officials and analysts say, advanced U.S. systems such as fighter jets are so reliant on U.S. spare parts, software updates or data sharing that cutting access could effectively render some unusable. Nearly two-thirds of European arms imports in recent years have come from the United States.
Several European countries have launched reviews of their U.S.-made equipment to assess how vulnerable they would be in a conflict with Russia if Trump cut off support, according to four senior European policymakers who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.
Canada and Portugal say they are reconsidering future orders of F-35 fighter. And the European Union is largely freezing the United States out of new loan financing as the bloc scrambles to find hundreds of billions of euros for a military buildup in the next five years. Canada is in talks with the E.U. about plans to expand manufacturing, officials said, as America’s oldest and closest allies join forces in an attempt to shield themselves from Trump’s whims.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
There’s always Israel. Battle tested the most.
War is very, very ugly, and I have little doubt that certain nations would use chemical and biological warfare against us without hesitation. Military/defense think tanks should be directed to envision any and all things possible, and then assume that our enemies are developing it and would use it.
“The Ukraine war has revealed that trillions of dollars worth of military equipment world wide is becoming obsolete.”
Here is the issue that other nations should consider. The reliance on the US for weapons and doctrine, by the European powers and others, could be a fatal mistake. Diversity, especially in an age of great change, is critical.
They can hate Trump all they want, but these nations that haven’t contributed to their defense need to consider the weapon options and manufacturing process for themselves.
These liberals have nearly destroyed our military capabilities. O'Bama was the worst. Klinton a close second but tied with Biden. Jorge Busho brings up the rear on these traitors.
We need to no longer be the world's cop. We haven't even policed our own borders, much less led the free world.
The trouble with being the “World’s Policeman” is that people at the State Department and USAID and others have decided that meant they could be the “world’s secret police.” Time to rethink a whole lot of concepts.
It’s all good that they spend more, but the idea Trump is befriending Russia in a way that should concern them, is preposterous.
He’s barely started to broker a peace deal. And if he really could be more friendly with Russia, it would only help lower that’s to Europe.
They are the ones that bought oil and gas from Russia during the war.
US arms companies need to only sell to the US.
30% up rate?
You’re gonna have to prove that one to me...
cant ya just hear the bi planes, soup can tanks and horse drawn cannon carts if ww2 warming up
Russian Taxpayers? Think again, there’s no such thing.
I put little to no credence to BS coming from the WasPos.
I call bull crap on this article. Not one definitive source to corroborate the narrative. Broad strokes with an imaginary pen.
Yeh let them go buy euro fighters. 😉
The Washington Pest. No credibility. This probably hasn’t been “fact” checked by any pro bono “fact checkers”.
Buy them from Russia. Ukrsine gets them daily for free.
Good try, Wahington Post. Where else are allies going to buy the most advanced weaponry on the globe? When we eventually withdraw from NATO, there is no reason why we would not be willing to sell them our weaponry at retail, not wholesale, along with their paying for the training on them. The other important part of the military paradigm we have to offer them is the best battlefield intelligence in the world. Buy the weaponry and maybe we’ll throw a little intelligence sharing into the deal. Amazon can’t compete with that
This article is proof that Bezos has not done anywhere near enough to root out the bias from the WaPo. He needs to concentrate on the slanted reporting, not only the opinion columns.
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