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None of the alliance members, including the US, currently spends 5% of GDP on defence, according to NATO figures. Poland is the highest spender in GDP terms at 4.12%, followed by Estonia at 3.43% and the United States at 3.38%.
I'd like to see people respond to a headline that reads, "Trump demands US increase NATO funding".
And all NATO members should buy stuff from European NATO suppliers just to piss him off.
NATO members can't buy stuff from imaginary suppliers that don't exist in the real world.
TIL SAAB, Rheinmetall, D'Assault, Glock, H&K, Thales, Airbus, et al are figments of my imagination.
And that was just from the top of my head.
Stridsvagn coming to NATO armies FTW!
Go look at the production numbers of these companies and compare them to the US, China, or Russia.
Oh, moving the goalposts already. First they were imaginary, now they have rookie numbers... Ok...
Nobody is moving goal posts. The scale of military industry in Europe is nowhere near what would be needed to replace the US. Expanding the industry to that scale would require an incredible amount of funding which can't happen given the state of European economies, not to mention energy prices in Europe. The fact that you don't understand such basic things really says volumes.
Yes yes, everyone knows the scale of military industry is measured in billions ~~wasted~~ spent and not in output or quality. Look at the F35s, a shining example of money well spent... The biggest problem of EU's military Industry is that they've been preparing to fight a sci-fi war and forgot artillery et al are still a thing. Otherwise, not worried at all.
Nah, scale of military industry is measured in industrial capacity which is largely non existent in Europe. Also, a fun fact is that activities such as steel production are very energy intensive. The fact that Russia produces 3x as many shells as all of NATO combined shows just how far ahead Russia is industrially.
Europe downscaled their artillery shell production capacity intentionally after the cold war ended. Russia got a significant portion of their ammo from NK. That comparison as a benchmark is ridiculous. I don't even know why I waste my time. That's some Radio Free Europe BS.
As the article above explains, Russia alone is massively outproducing all of the west because Russia kept the state owned industry from USSR in tact. Meanwhile, the fact that DPRK can outproduce Europe should be another cause for concern for y'all.
There are plenty in NATO suppliers in Europe. I should know, I worked for one.
Do they supply to all NATO countries or are they only supplying NATO-approved materiel to their home country?
Like, are we just talking German company making German tanks?
And they produce things on artisanal scale. Go look up what percentage of NATO military production the US accounts for.
If they got more money, they could scale up for the contract? Might take a few years but best time to start is before you need it.
The west has been pouring billions into the military industry over the past three years and still isn't able to meaningfully ramp up production right now. Simply pouring money into this isn't the solution, it would take a lot of structural changes to create a functional military industry. Meanwhile, Europe is now in deep economic trouble, and diverting large parts of the budget towards military will only make domestic unrest grow as it will result in further austerity. Political stability is by far the biggest near term problem for the EU.
Hmm makes me wonder if corruption is at foot.
Europe is too racist to quit NATO, so instead of belts & roads and cheap fuel, they’re going to get American-style healthcare.