The U.S. Is Quietly Pausing Some Arms Sales to Europe

43 comments

1. A few excerpts:

   “The first clue that something had changed in the U.S. approach to selling military equipment to Europe came as Denmark neared a decision on the purchase of a multibillion-dollar air-defense system. For weeks, American and French negotiators had aggressively pursued the deal. But as the deadline approached, the Pentagon suddenly lost interest.

   “We couldn’t understand why,” a contractor who had been tracking the discussions told me. “It seemed like a no-brainer, but they just weren’t into it.”

   Then, on a call earlier this month with the State Department, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Elbridge Colby said that he didn’t believe in the value of certainforeign military sales, according to two administration officials with knowledge of the discussion. He added that he didn’t like the idea of selling Patriots—which can intercept incoming missiles—to Denmark, because they are in short supply and should be reserved for the United States to use as needed. (The officials, like others I talked with, spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss this sensitive and evolving situation.)

   The comments surprised some State officials, but they soon learned that it wasn’t just Denmark having its access cut off. Current and former administration officials told me the Pentagon has identified some weapons as being in short supply, and is moving to block new requests for those systems coming in from Europe. It wasn’t immediately clear to those I spoke with how long the hold will last, how many weapons are on the list, or if it could expand to include even more weapons. Few exemptions will be granted.

   …

   Officials and observers of the Trump administration say the change is on brand with Colby’s belief that China is the only country that has the ambition, resources, and military might to knock the U.S. off its pedestal as the world’s leading superpower. The only way to stop its bid for global dominance, Colby has argued, is for the U.S. to pour everything it can into securing the Western Pacific—albeit, potentially, at the expense of European security”

   *Note that the other bit of news this week is that US has halted some weapons sales to Taiwan. “Reorient to China, huh?”*

2. Just another example of a country you cannot fully trust.

3. The sooner our leaders stop pretending the US can be an ally the better. They will, and presumably are, working to sabotage and destabilise european nations just as much as Russia is.

4. And Denmark bought European military equipment.

   Win-win then.

5. Europe should never have allowed itself to become so dependent on the US. Who decided that was a good idea?

6. “Officials and observers of the Trump administration say the change is on brand with Colby’s belief that China is the only country that has the ambition, resources, and military might to knock the U.S. off its pedestal as the world’s leading superpower. The only way to stop its bid for global dominance, Colby has argued, is for the U.S. to pour everything it can into securing the Western Pacific—albeit, potentially, at the expense of European security”

   Trump in his 1st term withdrew from Obama’s TPPA (designed to contain China) initiative, and in his 2nd term antagonized pretty much every ally in East Asia including everyone in the 1st island chain. The latest was the ICE mass arrest shitshow over at South Korean factory in the US.

   I dunno what they are doing but they sure ain countering China.

7. Krasnov in action.

8. US will arm Europe enough to defend and sustain the war but not enough to win the war .

9. What a coincidence. As soon as Denmark decided to buy €8bn worth of SAMP/T systems instead of Patriot, the US announce that they *totally* hadn’t been interested in selling it, and instead needed to keep the systems for their own use.

   Despite [officially and publicly greenlighting the sale](https://www.army-technology.com/news/us-denmark-patriot-defense/) not even two weeks beforehand.

   Sour grapes.

10. They didn’t want to sell to Denmark, and Denmark owns Greenland, and the US wants Greenland. Not a very difficult puzzle.

11. Did Putin call?

12. Tbh that’s not wholly unreasonable; they really do have lower stocks than they’re going to need if they get into a war and I sure as shit wouldn’t sell them any weapons we were short of right now.

13. Like always, they only care about themselves

14. >But the Patriot doesn’t really have a European equivalent

    YET

    Like with all these decisions, there will be the unintended consequence of Europeans not only looking for alternatives, but actually developing them themselves.

    The European military-industrial complex is booming and air defence is at the very top of the agenda. Billions are flowing into R&D, startups have put some extra pressure on the established companies to innovate.

    Necessity begets ingenuity.

    And make no mistake, once that huge export market is lost (US defence companies made tens of billions even in peaceful times every year by selling kit to Europe), it will be gone for good.

15. So what? That will give manufacturers in the EU a push to further improve their systems and the world to buy from them. Just another step on the way to make America irrelevant again.

    If “Death to America” had an avatar, it would be that orange pedophile turd. Release the Epstein files!

    Edit: Typo

16. Good thing is that EU countries in many cases are fueling their own military production, some of them starting the hybrid war 2014-2022 and intensifying it after 2022, understanding where the current administration’s priorities are going and what that would mean for, say, the Baltic states, Finland and Poland with the next few years.

17. We should start to cancel contracts and make airbus, bae and rheinmetall the new giants.

18. Buy our weapons!

    Won´t deliver our weapons!

    Is this some art of the deal?

19. It looks very much like the United States is preparing for war.

20. Limiting NATO’s ability to defend themselves.

21. By Putin’s order? 

22. We need an European arms industry not some national manufacturing.

23. Good. Europe cannot rely on America. The sooner it realises, the sooner it can behave like a grown up.

24. Another $6b in arms to Israel though

25. Good occasion to improve the our domestic arm manufacturing industry

26. What is so surprising about Trump obediently following orders from his master Putin?

27. Good, the US is no longer a reliable partner even if they bought the systems there is no guarantee you would be sold missiles for it once you used up existing stock.

    European weapons for Europe keep jobs and money here and supply chains short

28. Its simply untrue that Europe doesnt have an Patriots equilivant when the SAMP/T NG are as capable as the Patriots, it sounds like some US spin on why Denmark didnt choose their system and Europe as a whole stop buying American weapon systems.

    [https://www.mbda-systems.com/products/area-protection/aster-family/aster-sampt-ng](https://www.mbda-systems.com/products/area-protection/aster-family/aster-sampt-ng)

29. I don’t understand why Europe is not sanctioning the US. We are getting deported, battered, imprisoned and killed for peacefully protesting. We are completely outgunned by the bad guys (citizen MAGA militias, supported by the literal US military). We cannot succeed in defeating fascism in the US without international intervention. We have fought this scourge for decades as it was festering. We couldn’t defeat the white supremacist ideals enshrined in our country’s founding on our own, and if there is any sympathy for the Americans who have tried to stop this, we need military or diplomatic intervention from somebody with that leverage.

30. Buy our weapons or face tariffs! Well actually we don’t want to sell them to you. The rest of NATO should buy weapons for Ukraine! Well actually we don’t want to sell them. Screw Europe, we need to focus on the Pacific! Well actually we have just pissed off all allies like India, Japan and Korea and we are throwing Taiwan under the bus.
    Do the US have an actual strategy? 

31. Thought the whole purpose was to get them to spend 5% on defense

32. The US is, weirdly, preparing to defend their mainland as if anyone would attempt an invasion. Meanwhile, they refuse to sell weaponry to nations closer to agressors. Odd. Almost like Trump is trying to leave Europe naked for someone, while making sure that someone doesn’t attempt anything against him.

33. Because they intend to use them in wars of expansion. And against their own populace.

34. Whatever Israel wants, they would get it from the US. Good luck for the other US allies.

35. Australia will likely not have any submarines in a few years for the same reasons, and the US are also cutting some sales to Taiwan…

36. Agent Krasnov is working with the Russians, what a shocker!

37. The US is done. Can’t wait for the final episode, seems like it’s coming soon.
    The country is just failing.

38. I hope they stop all weapon sales to Europe. It’ll be a hard pill to swallow, but it’s probably the only way European leadership with finally get the message: the US is not an ally.

39. All the more reason to invest immediately in domestic European defense companies!

    Also remember a few months ago when Rubio was super butthurt that US companies were excluded from the EU ReArm initiative? Well well well…

40. Are we sure that Europe doesn’t trust the US as an ally any longer?

41. I think the US is preparing for war!

42. France was right all along.

43. Europe is quietly pausing some arms purchases from America.

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