European nations are answering the call to invest more in our own defense readiness with a nearly one trillion-dollar plan to buy new weapons and technological equipment. Building on lessons learned from Russia’s war in Ukraine, it’s a move that rebalances our transatlantic military alliance in a way that is long overdue. It should also make American defense firms sit up and take notice.
A stronger Europe means a stronger NATO, and stronger cooperation between European nations and the United States in the realm of defense. Our plan, Readiness 2030, calls for an historic investment in defense spending— up to $910 billion. It also adjusts rules for financial institutions, allowing them to offer loans and provide more financial flexibility to EU member states for defense spending. This plan is focused on not only today’s realities, like protecting Ukraine, but also the potential threat of future warfare.
And to be clear, a significant amount of the investment opportunities will be open to U.S. companies.
Major European purchases of new anti-drone systems, new air and missile defense capabilities and the most powerful cyberwarfare systems are on the horizon, along with purchases of AI and quantum computing systems, all part of our commitment to building a defense force fit for purpose in tomorrow’s world.
Our investments are defensive, not offensive, with the near-term goal of ensuring our partners in Ukraine have the equipment they need to resist Russia’s ongoing invasion of their homeland and shoring up our own defense posture. But what is vividly apparent is that Europe needs more robust capabilities to restore and preserve peace and security in Europe in the long term.
And that is where American defense firms come in. The Readiness 2030 defense plan offers major opportunities for U.S. industry partners. Europe has never seen a collective investment of this magnitude. We‘ll be looking to work with industry leaders who can equip our continent with the most advanced defense technology and infrastructure that exists. That’s why we stand ready to welcome partnerships and investments with U.S. controlled companies in the European Union. That will spur economic activity and job growth on both sides of the Atlantic.
This investment comes at a poignant time, as this year we‘re marking 80 years since the end of World War II. Celebrations erupted across Europe and the U.S., in what was the most powerful example we have ever witnessed of European and American allied forces standing side-by-side.
Eight decades on, Europe now finds itself facing dangers on a scale that we have not seen since the Cold War, and Europe must take charge in mounting its own defense. The United States rightfully expects Europe to do more for its own defense needs. Russia’s war in Ukraine was the wake-up call we needed and now our eyes are open.
The Europe of the future is one better armed and better prepared after Russia’s attacks on Ukraine. The war is demonstrating the importance of military equipment that is adaptable and right for modern warfare. We‘ve learned that our defense technologies and industries across the continent are more than ever interlinked. Supply chains are linked, logistics are linked. But most importantly, values are linked.
We stood for each other during Soviet times, during the war on terror and throughout this conflict in Ukraine. We hope that we will not face more of these kind of challenges and by investing in our defense, but if we do, more than ever, we‘ll be ready.
But Europe‘s moves towards greater defense autonomy can’t ignore the long legacy of partnership and cooperation with the United States that brought us to this moment. Today, it is not only American troops Europe will need but even more than before, collaboration with American business, American engineers and American programmers, in addition to embracing America’s ingenuity and technological know-how.
This is a once-in-a-generation surge in European defense. A surge in investment, a surge in capabilities, in readiness. One that we believe stands to strengthen the European Union’s ties with the United States, and promote peace and prosperity on the continent.
Peace is at the heart of our European project. But to keep the peace, Europe must be made ready. We have chosen our path — to speed up, ramp up and scale up all at once.
America’s defense sector can help us get there, and the transatlantic partnership will be stronger for it.
Jovita Neliupšienė is the ambassador of the European Union to the United States.
