US to cut strategic bombers and warships available to NATO in a crisis
https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2026/05/26/report-us-to-cut-strategic-bombers-and-warships-available-to-nato-in-a-crisis/
US to cut strategic bombers and warships available to NATO in a crisis
https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2026/05/26/report-us-to-cut-strategic-bombers-and-warships-available-to-nato-in-a-crisis/
8 Comments
Report from German news outlet Spiegel suggest the Trump administration plans to sharply reduce the U.S. military capabilities committed to NATO during a European crisis. According to Spiegel and Reuters, Washington may halve the number of strategic bombers available to the alliance, cut fighter jet commitments by roughly a third, reduce destroyer deployments and remove submarines from NATO contingency planning altogether. Europe would also be expected to provide more of its own reconnaissance drones as the U.S. scales back support. The reported changes come amid growing transatlantic tensions.
Bombers are less utile than they were even 30 years ago. Warships aren’t critical to European defense, and European countries never seem to *start* overseas conflicts, so neither is a huge issue.
Drone tech, innovation and implementation (of both tech and tactics) are more Ukraine’s forte at the moment, given their obvious battlefield testing and successes. They’re also focused on developing less expensive tech, yet still tech that competes directly with the more expensive variants.
The best time to arm up was twenty years ago when Bush told Europe to, then Obama did, as has every president since.
This is what the pivot to Asia finally taking place looks like when nothing was done.
One more step away from the transatlantic alliance system. Vladimir Putin must be pleased…
I bet Spain is real proud of denying NATO base usage now…
Having seen how the U.S. is handling the Iran war, I think Europe including the UK and Ukraine will be more than fine
Trump’s America is not a trust worthy member of NATO. Trump believes in “I win, you lose” diplomacy, so there’s no room for him in any cooperative effort.
The specific cuts Spiegel reported are worth spelling out. The US currently commits about 100,000 troops to European Command, plus rotational deployments. The bomber piece is significant because B-52s from Minot and Barksdale regularly rotate through RAF Fairford for NATO exercises. Those aircraft carry nuclear-capable ALCMs that form part of NATO’s extended deterrence posture.
The warship reduction matters less than it sounds. The US 6th Fleet operates from Naples but rarely keeps more than one carrier strike group in the Mediterranean at a time. During the Iran operations, CENTCOM has been pulling assets from EUCOM anyway. This just formalizes what’s already happening.
The real question is whether European countries can backfill. France and the UK have credible independent nuclear deterrents, but conventional force projection (heavy airlift, ISR, precision strike at scale) still depends on American infrastructure that doesn’t have a European equivalent.