Ten to twenty years and roughly one trillion euros—that is the mantra of politicians who want to make it clear that European NATO countries cannot realistically do without the United States for the time being. The trillion-euro figure comes from a study by the respected IISS in London. It represents the cost of replacing all American capabilities, from the roughly 100,000 U.S. troops with their equipment and support to American command-and-control systems and intelligence networks.
In doing so, they overlook the fact that Ukraine has already been holding out for more than four years against those same Russians without relying on many of the American capabilities that are supposedly essential to keep them at bay.
The calculation of the cost of a “European NATO” ignores the military revolution currently taking place in Ukraine. Russia is struggling to break through the Ukrainian drone “kill zone,” which in some places is up to 50 kilometers wide. These drones are cheap, replace traditional munitions, and destroy any multimillion-euro tank that enters the zone. Läs artikel