Pentagon official blesses Europe’s push to spend defense money at home

PARIS — The United States has changed its attitude on European allies funneling defense funds to local arms industries, and will be “pragmatic” about governments choosing to buy military equipment domestically, according to a senior U.S. defense official.

If countries spend 3.5% or 5% on defense, “we understand that you’re going to need to indigenize a large fraction of that production,” Elbridge Colby, the under secretary of defense for policy, said at a Feb. 13 side event of the Munich Security Conference.

“Otherwise people in Germany or Poland or whatever are going to say: ‘Why are we only sending money across the Atlantic?’”

The United States over the past 30 years has typically been skeptical or opposed to policies that prioritize European manufacturers for defense projects while limiting American participation.

Colby cited “a different attitude now,” with the fundamental U.S. interest in having allies that do more for their own security.

Europe should carry the main burden for its conventional defense, Colby said at a NATO meeting in Brussels on Feb. 12, just ahead of the annual Munich gathering, adding the U.S. wants “partnerships, not dependencies.”

Washington will continue to provide its nuclear deterrent, and “in a more limited and focused fashion,” conventional capabilities that contribute to NATO defense, according to the Pentagon policy chief, who has been a proponent of the shifting the U.S. focus away from Europe.

Europe accounted for 35% of U.S. arms exports in the 2020-2024 period, as imports of weaponry by European NATO members more than doubled in the period from the previous four years, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The U.S. supplied 64% of those arms imports in 2020-2024, SIPRI says.

The U.S. is trying to grow its defense industrial base, and the Defense Department is “fully in line with that,” Colby said in Munich. Demand for defense equipment is “enormous” and will be sustained, and while the U.S. will try to capture market share and has leverage and assets, “that’s going to be a pragmatic conversation,” Colby said.

As the U.S. pushes Europe to take more responsibility for its own defense, “the whole attitude is different,” including with regards to the European Union having a role in supporting defense, Colby said.

The EU has stepped up its involvement in defense response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including with a €150 billion ($178 billion) loan program for joint defense procurement that requires at least 65% of the component costs to be from Europe, Canada or Ukraine.

“If there’s going to be large fiscal moves, we understand that some of that’s going to go through the European Union,” Colby said. “We’ll work with that. That’s kind of up to Europe to decide. Again, that gets to that partnership, not dependencies idea.”

EU member states had been forecast to spend €381 billion on defense in 2025, up 63% from five years earlier, according to data from the bloc.

Modern conflicts will be “wars of production,” as demonstrated by the war in Ukraine, and that requires a defense industry that can produce for the U.S. as well as for allies, Colby said in a separate panel at the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 14.

“I would say we’re also very supportive of our allies growing their defense industrial base, and that’ll put us on a long-term trajectory,” Colby said. ‘We’re confident that this will be the recipe for stability, but also deterrence and defense.”

NATO allies agreed in The Hague last year to increase defense spending to 5% of gross domestic product by 2035, including 3.5% of GDP on “core defense.”

Spain has been the only ally to reject the 5% target, saying it can achieve NATO capability targets with lower spending. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said in Munich that level of spending “at the end of the day” will make Europe more dependent on the U.S. defense industry.

Finland’s President Alexander Stubb, who sat on a panel with Sánchez on transatlantic security, pushed back, saying his country is “hopefully a security provider rather than a security consumer.”

Stubb said Finland faces a Russian security threat, so “when NATO’s defense expenditure goes up to 5%, when America asks us to take more responsibility for our own defense, as a Finn, I’m actually quite pleased with that.”

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said reaching 3.5% spending by 2035 might be too late, and the target should be reached in 2030, “and maybe it won’t be enough.”

NATO capability targets currently don’t reflect the High North and Arctic region, according to Frederiksen. Many of the capabilities needed for the region haven’t been produced yet, and production lines in the U.S. and Europe “are not really replying to the needs we have.”

Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.

巴黎——据一位美国高级国防官员称，美国已经改变了对欧洲盟友将国防资金输送给当地军火工业的态度，并将对各国政府选择在国内购买军事装备持“务实”态度。

美国国防部负责政策的副部长埃尔布里奇·科尔比在2月13日慕尼黑安全会议的边会上表示，如果一个国家将3.5%或5%的财政收入用于国防，“我们理解你们需要将其中很大一部分生产环节实现国产化”。

“否则，德国人、波兰人或其他地方的人就会说：‘为什么我们只向大西洋彼岸汇款？’”

过去30年来，美国通常对那些优先考虑欧洲制造商参与国防项目、同时限制美国参与的政策持怀疑或反对态度。

科尔比指出“现在的态度有所不同”，美国的根本利益在于拥有那些为自身安全做出更多贡献的盟友。

科尔比在2月12日于布鲁塞尔举行的北约会议上表示，欧洲应该承担其常规防御的主要责任。此次会议恰逢慕尼黑年会召开前夕。他还补充说，美国想要的是“伙伴关系，而不是依赖关系”。

据五角大楼政策负责人称，华盛顿将继续提供核威慑力量，并“以更加有限和集中的方式”提供有助于北约防御的常规能力。这位负责人一直主张将美国的重心从欧洲转移开来。

根据斯德哥尔摩国际和平研究所的数据，2020年至2024年期间，欧洲占美国武器出口的35%，欧洲北约成员国的武器进口量较前四年增长了一倍多。斯德哥尔摩国际和平研究所称，2020年至2024年期间，美国供应了这些武器进口中的64%。

科尔比在慕尼黑表示，美国正努力发展其国防工业基础，国防部“完全支持这一目标”。他指出，对国防装备的需求“巨大”，而且这种需求将持续存在。虽然美国将努力抢占市场份额，并且拥有相关的优势和资源，但“这将是一场务实的对话”。

科尔比表示，随着美国敦促欧洲承担更多自身防务责任，“整个态度都发生了变化”，包括欧盟在支持防务方面所扮演的角色。

欧盟加大了对俄罗斯入侵乌克兰的国防应对力度，包括推出一项 1500 亿欧元（1780 亿美元）的贷款计划，用于联合国防采购，该计划要求至少 65% 的零部件成本来自欧洲、加拿大或乌克兰。

科尔比说：“如果真的要出台大规模的财政政策，我们明白其中一部分要通过欧盟来实现。我们会配合。这最终取决于欧洲的决定。再说一遍，这体现的是伙伴关系，而不是依赖关系。”

根据欧盟的数据，预计欧盟成员国到 2025 年将在国防上花费 3810 亿欧元，比五年前增长 63%。

科尔比在 2 月 14 日慕尼黑安全会议的另一个小组讨论中表示，现代冲突将是“生产战争”，乌克兰战争就证明了这一点，这就需要一个既能为美国生产又能为盟友生产的国防工业。

科尔比说：“我认为我们也非常支持盟友发展国防工业基础，这将使我们走上长期发展道路。我们相信，这将是实现稳定、威慑和防御的良方。”

北约盟国去年在海牙达成一致，到 2035 年将国防开支提高到国内生产总值的 5%，其中 3.5% 用于“核心国防”。

西班牙是唯一拒绝5%国防开支目标的盟国，称其能够以更低的开支实现北约的能力目标。西班牙首相佩德罗·桑切斯在慕尼黑表示，这样的开支水平“最终”只会让欧洲更加依赖美国的国防工业。

芬兰总统亚历山大·斯图布曾与桑切斯一起参加跨大西洋安全小组讨论，他反驳说，芬兰“希望成为安全提供者，而不是安全消费者”。

斯塔布表示，芬兰面临俄罗斯的安全威胁，因此“当北约的国防开支增加到5%，当美国要求我们承担更多自身防务责任时，作为一个芬兰人，我对此感到非常高兴。”

丹麦首相梅特·弗雷德里克森表示，到 2035 年实现 3.5% 的支出目标可能为时已晚，应该在 2030 年实现该目标，“但这可能还不够”。

弗雷德里克森指出，北约目前的能力目标并未反映高北和北极地区的情况。该地区所需的许多能力尚未研制成功，而美国和欧洲的生产线“实际上并不能满足我们的需求”。

鲁迪·鲁伊滕贝格是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者。他的职业生涯始于彭博新闻社，拥有报道科技、大宗商品市场和政治方面的经验。