U.S. sets 2027 deadline for Europe-led NATO defense, officials say

Washington –

The United States wants Europe to take over the majority of NATO’s conventional defense capabilities, from intelligence to missiles, by 2027, Pentagon officials told diplomats in Washington last week, a tight deadline that struck some European officials as unrealistic.

The message, recounted by five sources familiar with the discussion, including a U.S. official, was conveyed at a meeting in Washington last week of Pentagon staff overseeing NATO policy and several European delegations.

The shifting of this burden from the U.S. to European members of NATO would dramatically change how the United States, a founding member of the postwar alliance, works with its most important military partners.