Media: Europe plans for war scenarios without US backstop

European defence ministers have begun discussing contingency scenarios for conducting military operations in the event of reduced or absent full-scale support from the United States, Bloomberg has reported, citing sources.

According to the report, officials believe Europe may be preparing for a potential reduction in the US military presence on the continent, although no timeline for such a development has been confirmed.

NATO officials have meanwhile sought to reassure member states that European allies would be able to compensate for any capability gaps left by a possible US drawdown.

The Director of the NATO Standardisation Office, Thierry Puellet, is said to have argued that European countries would replace withdrawn American assets by providing equivalent systems or platforms with comparable combat effectiveness.

The discussions reportedly took place against the backdrop of concerns over specific capability shortages. One such area is strategic bombers, where the United States is said to be planning a reduction of around 30 per cent.

European countries currently do not operate comparable aircraft and have no immediate plans to develop them, leaving uncertainty over how such capabilities could be replaced.

By Aghakazim Guliyev