Commentary
August 24, 2026
NATO can become more European, with non-U.S. allies seeking to become an equally strong overall pillar of the alliance. But NATO will not and should not become truly Europeanized—with Europe being independently responsible for its own defense.
Were the European countries of NATO (and Canada) to develop roughly three times today’s deployable conventional combat capacity—including much greater use of drones and counter-drone defenses—they could effectively defend NATO’s exposed eastern flank, at least initially and for some scenarios.
For the United States, there would be enormous benefits from such a European pillar of the alliance that approached America’s own likely capacities for waging war in Europe.
