US Pulling Large Chunk Of Jets, Refueling Tankers From NATO Defense, Realigning Further East

In a move that surprises absolutely no one paying attention, the United States is planning to significantly slash the number of fighter jets and warships it feeds into the NATO machine in Europe, the New York Times reported Thursday.

The reported cutbacks hit right as panicked European nations scramble to patch up their own defense capacities. Though long expected given President Trump’s somewhat adverse relationship with the NATO alliance, and fiercely critical rhetoric continuously directed at Brussels, European capitals are deeply concerned given they are under the shadow of the Russia-Ukraine war, now in its fifth year.

Washington is officially out of patience while Trump has openly mocked the alliance as a “paper tiger” and labeled its members “cowards” – earlier venting his frustration over Europe’s refusal to jump into the US-Israeli war against Iran.

According to two unidentified senior European officials cited by the NYT, Washington’s upcoming retreat from the continent includes drawing down the number of US fighter jets supplied to Europe by one-third, as well as cutting all eight aerial refueling tankers conventionally provided (as most of the Pentagon’s refueling tanker planes are currently in Tel Aviv anyway), and drastically reducing maritime reconnaissance aircraft.

Other prime military assets slated to be reallocated include a missile-launching submarine, an aircraft carrier, a group of bomber aircraft, and a handful of jets and warships. All of this was already previewed and leaked, but the fresh Times reporting provides further confirmation.

The writing has been on the wall for weeks, given that US European Command explicitly stated this month that it would reassess Washington’s contributions to NATO to “ensure Europe takes primary responsibility for its own conventional defense.”

We featured previous reporting which outlined a new US framework for defense of Europe based on the US mainly ‘just’ providing nuclear deterrent rather than the broad military support it has historically guaranteed.

The primary driver for this withdrawal is the US military’s pivot toward the Asia-Pacific, though officials also cited the need for flexibility to commit assets to military campaigns in the Middle East and the Western Hemisphere. 

While NATO leadership officially portrays the move as a way to reduce “over-dependence” on the US, European diplomats find the requirements far more severe than anticipated, with European leaders reportedly stunned by the scale and speed of the requirements.

Reportedly in secret meetings some representatives even interpreted the US insistence on rapid compliance as an “indirect threat” toward those who fail to act quickly.