Secret plans revealed USA wants to drastically reduce military contributions to Nato - what are the consequences?
The USA apparently wants to drastically reduce its military contributions to NATO - and is thus putting pressure on its European alliance partners. Answers to the most important questions.
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- According to a media report, the USA wants to drastically reduce its military contributions to NATO.
- According to the report, significantly fewer US military capabilities will be available to the alliance in future.
- The US plans are putting considerable pressure on the European alliance partners, as the resulting gaps will have to be filled quickly.
Donald Trump repeatedly railed against NATO during his first term in office. The alliance partners on the other side of the Atlantic were taking advantage of the USA, while the alliance was useless for the Americans. Even at meetings, the US President hardly missed an opportunity to complain about the military alliance. However, he did not initially follow up his tirades with any action.
This has changed significantly since the beginning of his second term in office. Last year, the alliance partners had to commit to increasing their defense spending to five percent of GDP. Now comes the next bombshell: according to a media report, military contributions to NATO are to be significantly reduced. Answers to the most important questions about the secret US plans:
What are the US plans for Nato all about?
At a meeting in Brussels last week, an envoy of the US Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, informed the allies that Washington would be providing "significantly fewer key military capabilities" in future, reported Der Spiegel on Tuesday. According to the report, the cuts will affect "US fighter jets, warships, drones and tanker aircraft", among other things.
According to the information, the USA is planning to deploy significantly fewer strategic bombers for NATO, with the number being halved. The number of US fighter jets is to be reduced by a third. US envoy Alexander Velez Green, chief advisor to the US Secretary of State for Defense Policy, Elbridge Colby, informed high-ranking officials from the NATO partners of this at the meeting behind closed doors.
The US Navy is also to provide fewer destroyers for NATO, and the USA no longer wants to provide submarines in the NATO alliance. The Europeans are also to provide their own drones for reconnaissance. The USA wants to significantly reduce its involvement in armed models.
What is the "Nato Force Model"?
The reduction now reported would relate to the Nato Force Model, which describes which country provides how many soldiers and military equipment to Nato and how quickly in the event of an operation.
The NATO Force Model specifies which units and military capabilities from the member states the NATO Supreme Allied Commander for Europe can directly access in order to ensure deterrence and the defense of Europe. It was created in response to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and is intended to allow the military alliance to react more quickly and flexibly to threats. The aim is to strengthen deterrence and defense capabilities along NATO's entire eastern flank and enable a rapid crisis response.
What does this mean for Europe?
Washington has long been calling on Canada and its European partners to take on more responsibility for the defense of NATO territory. In addition to the withdrawal of US troops from Europe, this also includes "burden shifting", i.e. a shifting of the burden in terms of command structures and military capabilities. In the previous system, the USA provided around half of the military capabilities, with the remaining NATO partners having to contribute the rest.
According to Der Spiegel, the US plans that have now been revealed are more serious than the Europeans had expected. European diplomats had assumed before the meeting that it would be a matter of minor adjustments over time.
If the plans are implemented, the Europeans would have to quickly fill the resulting gaps themselves. The decisive factor now is the time horizon that the US government envisages for the implementation of the plans. For example, it would be conceivable to compensate for the fighter jets via the ongoing deliveries of F-35s to European allies. Poland has already received the first three aircraft and the German Air Force is due to receive its first fighter jets next year.
However, there are numerous other gaps that cannot be closed quickly. For example, Europe does not have strategic bombers that could deliver nuclear weapons to the target in an emergency. The two aircraft carriers that the USA had registered for the NATO force model are also unlikely to be replaced quickly.
What do the plans have to do with China?
The Indo-Pacific plays a major role in US defense planning. US intelligence services estimate that China will have the capability to attack Taiwan from 2027.
Citing military officials, Der Spiegel writes that the US primarily wants to achieve more flexibility in the event of a conflict in the Indo-Pacific by reducing its commitment. This is because the US government does not want to be tied down by having to register military capabilities with NATO.
How is Nato reacting?
Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte said last week that he could not yet comment on the "top secret" plans, "but I think this is exactly what we expected and is absolutely in line with the approach that there should be no surprises". The process is "nothing new", emphasized Rutte, "everyone knew this would happen."
From the point of view of military representatives, however, the plans do not mean that the USA would not step in should a defense case arise in Europe. Nevertheless, the pressure on the European alliance partners is high. The NATO partners are to decide as early as the beginning of June how the gaps can be closed. This is because Washington wants to present the new burden sharing at the NATO summit in Ankara in July.
With material from the news agency afp.
