![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/EDGNVA6HP5HKLKONYYOGGLSLH4.jpg\")
U.S. Air Force Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich, Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), speaks during a press conference at NATO Headquarters on May 19, 2026, in Brussels, Belgium. (Omar Havana\/Getty Images)<\/p>\nBRUSSELS \u2014 The U.S. expects European NATO allies and Canada to swiftly increase the number of manned and unmanned aircraft and ships they contribute to the alliance\u2019s defense plans as Washington steps back in these areas, a top U.S. general said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The statement by U.S. Air Force General Alexus Grynkewich, NATO\u2019s top commander and the head of U.S. forces in Europe, followed a decision by the Trump administration to shrink the pool of U.S. military capabilities available to NATO in a crisis.<\/p>\n
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized NATO and told its European members they will have to take over primary responsibility for the conventional defense of the continent.<\/p>\n
The U.S. told allies last month of its decision to reduce its contribution to a framework known as the NATO Force Model, which includes a pool of forces that could be activated during a crisis. But it did not publicly disclose any details.<\/p>\n
Grynkewich\u2019s statement, issued after a meeting of NATO military planners on Wednesday, was the first public indication of what areas the U.S. plans to cut first and where it expects allies to step in.<\/p>\n
Manned and unmanned aircraft and naval vessels are two areas where Canada and European allies \u201ccan step up now and in the near term – as the United States reduces forces \u2018sourced\u2019 to the NATO Force Model in Europe and refocuses them elsewhere,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
U.S. Air Force Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich, Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), speaks during a press conference at NATO Headquarters on May 19, 2026, in Brussels, Belgium. (Omar Havana\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\u201cThere has been an unhealthy co-dependence in the NATO Force Model on U.S. forces,\u201d Grynkewich said in his written statement. \u201cPresident (Donald) Trump, (Defense) Secretary (Pete) Hegseth and others have been clear that this needs to change, and it will change. The potential reality of simultaneous conflict in multiple theaters demands it.\u201d<\/p>\n
NATO expects no gaps<\/p>\n
The NATO alliance is under unprecedented strain, with some European countries concerned that Washington may withdraw outright. A major adjustment to the forces the U.S. would make available during wartime will only intensify those concerns.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for NATO\u2019s military headquarters, U.S. Army Col. Martin O\u2019Donnell, said the areas mentioned by Grynkewich were \u201cwhere allies already have or soon will have sufficient capabilities, meaning no defence gaps are expected to emerge.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNations just need to assign the capabilities they have to NATO,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Donnell declined to elaborate on when Grynkewich expected allied nations, whose leaders will meet at a NATO summit in Ankara in July, to have replaced the U.S. capabilities.<\/p>\n
The number of U.S. fighter jets available to NATO is set to fall by a third, and the U.S. will also make fewer U.S. destroyers and no U.S. submarines available as part of the crisis pool, according to a report last week by German news outlet Spiegel.<\/p>\n
Europe will also be forced to provide its own reconnaissance drones, while the U.S. plans to significantly scale back the provision of armed models, the report added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BRUSSELS \u2014 The U.S. expects European NATO allies and Canada to swiftly increase the number of manned and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73005,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17,29670,7131,29671,7132,7128,586,2105,1888,691,29669],"class_list":["post-73004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-canada","tag-circulated-c4isrnet","tag-circulated-defense-news","tag-circulated-military-times","tag-defense-news","tag-dn-dnr","tag-europe","tag-france","tag-germany","tag-nato","tag-quick-reaction-forces"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}