Europe replaces most US Nato cuts, commander says

By Lauren Campbell 05/07/2026 3 min read 6 views

Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe Sir John Stringer made the assessment ahead of Nato’s summit in Ankara next week, where allies will try to smooth over recent US announcements signaling a pivot away from the continent.

“European allies have definitely stepped up in terms of backfilling the adjustment in the US forces in Europe,” Stringer told reporters, calling it a demonstration of “a stronger Europe in a stronger Nato.”

The US recently announced massive cuts to the forces it would send to Europe in case of war or crisis. That prompted the alliance’s military command to ask European states to identify forces they hadn’t yet committed to the organization.

Stringer, a former Royal Air Force fighter pilot, said that in categories where European nations couldn’t provide equivalent forces, the allies would look to match the effect with different assets.

Burden-sharing and burden-shifting “is now being done in a sensible, proportionate way, absolutely driven by military logic,” he said. He emphasized that those nations were prepared for the shift in US priorities and commitments, and that the need to rebalance had been a factor for years.

President Donald Trump’s rhetoric toward the alliance since returning to the White House has unnerved member nations and prompted a rethink of defense spending across Europe. In June, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth shocked allies at the alliance’s headquarters by announcing a six-month review of American forces in Europe — a signal that more cuts may be ahead.

Colonel Martin O’Donnell, a spokesperson at the alliance’s military command, said that “in the air and maritime domain, Europeans can and have stepped up” and even gone beyond 100 percent. In some cases, he added, they have the same kit or better equipment than the US inventory, citing the example of a type of F-16 fighter jet Bulgaria is set to receive.

Stringer was appointed as the alliance’s second in command of operations in the continent this year as the organization grapples with the war in Ukraine on its borders and an increasingly isolationist Washington.

Spending Commitments and the UK

The deputy commander, asked about the recent resignation of British Defense Secretary John Healey over what he said was inadequate UK spending, said that “all the nations, all 32 agreed that they would get to 3.5 per cent by 2035 and have a credible path to get there.”

“Nobody gets an opt out on that one,” he said, referring to the alliance’s target for defense spending.

“That’s what we agreed and that obviously includes the UK.”

He noted that areas of investment announced by the UK in recent weeks are “absolutely aligned with where the alliance sees our forces needing to go to be able to be credible in deterring and defending the billion people under the alliance’s umbrella.”

“The alliance will expect all nations, including the UK, to live by their commitments,” he said.

The alliance, founded in 1949, now has 32 member countries.

Its military command continues to assess how European forces can compensate for the US adjustments, with further details expected at the Ankara summit.