Dutch soldiers react to contact from enemy forces during exercise Saber Junction at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany, Sept. 5, 2025. The Pentagon has set a 2027 deadline for European allies to take over responsibility for the defense of the Continent, according to a Reuters report Friday. (Dylan Bailey/U.S. Army)
The Pentagon wants allies in Europe to take over the bulk of defense responsibilities on the Continent no later than 2027, according to a new report that could carry significant implications for how American troops are deployed.
Defense Department officials told their Western counterparts in Washington this week about the new deadline, Reuters reported Friday, citing five unidentified sources.
U.S. officials said during a meeting that they remain unsatisfied with the progress allies are making when it comes to bolstering their own military capabilities, and that if allies miss the 2027 deadline, the U.S. could stop participating in some NATO activities, Reuters reported.
The report did not detail how the U.S. could scale back its missions or what specific conventional military capabilities might be withdrawn.
It was also unclear whether the 2027 deadline was representative of President Donald Trump’s view on the matter or just the outlook of certain Pentagon officials, Reuters said.
Top Pentagon officials have repeatedly said the U.S. expects other NATO countries at some point to take on the bulk of the conventional security burden on the Continent, a reference to various non-nuclear capabilities.
While the U.S. has long been the provider of weapons for NATO’s nuclear mission, American troops also provide substantial conventional capabilities in the form of ground forces, warships, fighter planes and command-and-control systems.
Service members from the U.S. and several NATO nations perform simulated mission analysis inside the Combined Operations and Intelligence Center at Clay Kaserne in Wiesbaden, Germany, Oct. 27, 2025. The Pentagon could scale back its missions and capabilities in Europe should its allies on the Continent not be prepared to take over the bulk of defense responsibilities by 2027, Reuters reported Friday. (Christopher Osburn/U.S. Army)
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, European countries have ramped up defense spending in response to concerns about potential Russian aggression.
NATO members also have agreed to increase their military spending levels to 5% of gross domestic product by 2035 in line with a demand by Trump that NATO’s defense spending benchmark be elevated.
Still, security analysts have noted that it will take years for allies in Europe to develop the capabilities the U.S. brings to the table. An American military withdrawal from Europe by 2027 could leave capability gaps.
Indeed, if NATO had to go it largely alone in the event of a Russian attack, European allies would face a daunting challenge, experts say.
At a minimum, it would need to field 50 new combat brigades and some 300,000 troops to offset the loss of U.S. support, according to an analysis earlier this year by Bruegel, a Brussels-based think tank.
To prevent a rapid Russian breakthrough in the Baltics, for example, Europeans would need a minimum of 1,400 tanks, 2,000 infantry fighting vehicles and 700 artillery systems, the February report said.
“This is more combat power than currently exists in the French, German, Italian and British land forces combined,” the report stated.
Europeans also would need to surge beyond the “barebones stockpiles” of munitions currently available. An estimated 1 million 155 mm shells would be the minimum for a stockpile large enough for 90 days of high-intensity combat, the report said.
The various necessities would cost more than $250 billion annually, or roughly 3.5% of gross domestic product, for European countries, according to Bruegel.
A senior NATO military official, not a party to the talks in Washington, said the security situation in Europe is urgent.
“With the alignment of adversaries around the world, time is not on anyone’s side,” the official said in a statement Friday to Stars and Stripes. “That is why investing in defence, enhancing defence production, and stepping up support for Ukraine, is so vitally, vitally important.”
A U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker refuels a Greek Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon during an exercise over Greece on Oct. 4, 2024. The U.S. wants allies in Europe to take over the bulk of defense responsibilities on the Continent no later than 2027, according to a Friday report by Reuters. (Edgar Grimaldo/U.S. Air Force)
