Statements that Europe would be unable to protect itself from serious threats without US assistance are being voiced with increasing frequency. In particular, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte also addressed this issue this week during hearings at the European Parliament. According to him, Europe needs the United States, and likewise, the United States needs the Alliance.

Axar.az reports that this was stated in an article published by The Times.

It is noted that Western military experts believe assessing Europe’s ability to wage war without the United States is not only a useful thought exercise but also a necessity. In their view, the main problem at present is that NATO’s European member states face numerous challenges that will be difficult to resolve in the short term.

Retired Air Marshal and Director General of the UK Defence Academy Edward Stringer said that while the United States has 33 main variants across 10 key categories of weapon systems such as battle tanks and fighter jets, Europeans have 174 variants. Many of these differ in terms of spare parts, fuel types, or ammunition.

In addition, European armed forces operate 12 types of tanks, 14 types of combat aircraft, and 16 types of infantry fighting vehicles. Even German-made Panzerhaubitze 2000 self-propelled howitzers differ depending on the country operating them.

“If America were to leave, the problem would not be Europe’s inability to gather large numbers of F-16s, F-35s, Leclerc battle tanks, or powerful Dutch frigates, but how to integrate them,” Stringer emphasized.

The expert also noted that European countries face serious shortages in key military equipment.