US to slash NATO forces; Europe braces for security gap

The United States plans to significantly reduce its military contributions to NATO, cutting fighter jets by a third, providing only half the previous number of strategic bombers, offering fewer destroyers, and no longer supplying any submarines to the alliance, according to a report by German news outlet Spiegel. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's envoy Alexander Velez-Green briefed senior NATO officials on the plan at alliance headquarters in Brussels late last week. The changes would force Europe to provide its own reconnaissance drones, with the U.S. scaling back armed drone models as well. The announcement comes as the NATO alliance faces unprecedented strain, with President Donald Trump criticizing European allies for insufficient defense spending and announcing plans to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany. Trump has also questioned whether Washington is bound by its mutual defense obligations and floated the possibility of withdrawing from NATO entirely, while his ambition to take control of Greenland has further inflamed transatlantic tensions. Three sources confirmed to Reuters that the Trump administration was planning to shrink the pool of military capabilities available to NATO during a crisis. In response to these pressures and growing concerns about Russian aggression, NATO is simultaneously strengthening its eastern flank by assigning a second army corps to defend Latvia and Estonia, sources told Reuters. Germany and the Netherlands have reached agreement to assign the German-Netherlands Corps, based in Muenster, to the rapid deployment of forces in the Baltic region, which has limited strategic depth. NATO officials have warned for years that Russia could potentially mount a large-scale assault on allied territory as early as 2029. A NATO spokesman said there had been an "over-reliance" on the United States in force planning, and that with Europe and Canada investing more in defense, military responsibilities within the alliance could be reorganized.