EUROPE would be left to stand up to Russia’s meatgrinder almost alone if Donald Trump decided to pull America out of the Nato alliance.
That’s because the US military has a huge arsenal – some $4trillion worth of high-tech bases, aircraft carriers, advanced missiles and drones.
AFPRomanian army tanks fire during the Exercise Steadfast Dart last month[/caption]
ReutersAn Italian Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon fighter patrols over the Baltics[/caption]
The giant economy is by far the biggest defence spender and most powerful force within Nato.
But, if Trump is to pull out of the 76-year-old alliance, then that would leave the 30 European allies plus Canada having to defend themselves.
Europe is scrambling to get in behind Ukraine without America’s help following Trump and Volodymyr Zelenksy’s disastrous meeting on Friday.
Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron met in London on Sunday with other European leaders as the bloc looks to back Ukraine itself.
The weakening of Nato is one of Putin‘s greatest desires as the beastly union of the US, Europe and Canada has deterred Soviet and Russian aggression for seven decades.
EUROPE GOES ALONE
There is a lack of confidence in Europe that it could defend itself from Russia if it were to invade – but figures paint a different picture.
America has a whopping 1.3million active personnel across its three branches – counting for about one third of the alliance’s total troop count.
But it is Europe who has more soldiers, with some 2.2million troops in the European and Canadian arm of the group.
On Sunday, Polish Prime Minister put that number higher saying that Europe should be more confident as the continent had 2.6million professional soldiers.
Russia is aiming to have 2.4million active personnel in its armed forces this year.
America has 100,000 troops in Europe as part of Nato and if the US were to withdraw the alliance would suddenly be caught short.
European nations have been reticent to increase their military spending and would struggle to quickly find another 100,000 fighting troops.
But a new study believes Europe needs 300,000 troops, 1,400 news tanks, and to double its spending over the next five years if it wanted to defend itself without the US, researcher Guntram Wolff found.
Putin has thrown his troops into the meatgrinder in Ukraine and has been willing to take huge casualties for inches of land.
Paul Jacobs/pictureexclusive.comHMS Queen Elizabeth returned to her home port of Portsmouth[/caption]
But Ukraine has also taken huge losses and any European force without America would need a massive army.
That’s because Nato would also miss the massive amount of hardware America brings to the table.
For example, America has some 11 active aircraft carriers and another 300 combat vessels to accompany the flagships.
European nations have seven aircraft carriers.
France has one aircraft carrier, Italy has two, Spain has one, Turkey has one, and the UK has two.
However, Russia is even worse off, having no working aircraft carriers of its own.
On the tank front, America has 5,500 of the behemoths, while Europe has 7,000.
Russia is only thought to have some 2,500 tanks in active service and has had to dig into their Soviet stockpile to keep fighting in Ukraine.
APBritish servicemen unfurl the Union Jack flag before the start of the Steadfast Dart[/caption]
APAn Apache helicopter of Greek Air Force in February[/caption]
Putin lost a whopping 1,400 battle tanks in 2024 alone.
Some 15,000 armoured vehicles among other key pieces of heavy equipment have been lost in total the first three years of the bloody war in Ukraine.
Europe also dominates Russia in numbers of fighter jets, helicopters, frigates, amphibious ships, aircraft carries and submarines.
America also has the kind of high-tech hardware that Europe doesn’t have, including spy planes, radar jammers, military specialists to perform highly complex missions.
The continent is also lacking manned aerial tankers which extend the range of the fighters, allowing them to reach targets that could be hundreds of miles away.
Europe is short on manned and unmanned intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft – which would spot targets for fighters to attack.
What is Nato?
THE North Atlantic Treaty Organisation is a political and military alliance of countries from North America and Europe.
It was founded in 1949 to counter the Soviet Union with Cold War tensions rising.
Among articles in its found treaty is the principle of collective defence – the idea that an attack on one member is considered an attack on all of them.
Nato takes decisions by consensus but the political and military strength of the United States means that it is by far the most powerful country in the alliance.
Its nuclear arsenal is seen as the ultimate security guarantee.
Nato has 31 members – most of them European nations, plus the United States and Canada.
The newest member is Finland, which joined last April in reaction to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Sweden applied to join along with Finland but is waiting for Hungary to ratify its application as the final major step before membership.
But Ukraine has shown how the success of using plentiful, cheap weapons in drones.
They have pioneered the use of the crafts and been able to hold back the far larger Russian military and their armies tanks.
America has some 3,700 active nuclear weapons while Europe’s only two nuclear powers, the UK and France, have just over 500 together.
Importantly, that’s enough to lay waste to Moscow and St Petersburg and all of Russia’s most critical and cherished sites.
AlamyA RAF Eurofighter Typhoon taking off[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
