US plans to significantly cut its military contributions to NATO, - Spiegel
The United States intends to significantly reduce its contribution to meeting NATO's needs by cutting back on the number of weapons and military personnel.
According to Censor.NET, the German publication Spiegel reports this, citing its own sources.
Washington's decision
According to the publication, a representative of Pentagon Chief Pete Hagset briefed NATO allies during a meeting late last week on Washington’s plans to redistribute the military burden. Hagset’s adviser, Alexander Velez-Green, presented figures that turned out to be far more drastic than Europe had anticipated.
Specifically, the U.S. plans call for:
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Reduction of strategic aviation: a significant reduction in the number of strategic bombers and fighters (by one-third).
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Naval forces: a reduction in the number of U.S. destroyers and a complete refusal to provide submarines for NATO's needs.
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Reconnaissance: Europeans must supply their own drones for reconnaissance missions.
The U.S. Appeal to Europe
At the same time, Washington has emphasized that it intends to maintain only the nuclear deterrent component in Europe. All other tasks related to the continent’s conventional defense must now fall to European allies.
In the U.S., this move is described as "logical and realistic," given that many European countries have begun to invest more in their own defense. Washington is demanding that its allies take concrete steps by early June to solidify the new division of responsibilities at the NATO summit in Ankara in July.
A spokesperson for NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, in turn, told *Spiegel* that in the past there had been an "excessive reliance" on the United States in planning, and that the current changes are intended to make the Alliance more self-reliant and resilient.
