US sets new deadline for Europe-led NATO defense that leaves officials divided

WASHINGTON, Dec 5 (Reuters) – The United States wants Europe to take over the majority of NATO’s conventional defense capabilities, from intelligence to missiles, by 2027, Pentagon officials told diplomats in Washington this week, a tight deadline that struck some European officials as unrealistic.The message, recounted by five sources familiar with the discussion, including a US official, was conveyed at a meeting in Washington this week of Pentagon staff overseeing NATO policy and several European delegations.The shifting of this burden from the US to European members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization would dramatically change how the United States, a founding member of the post-war alliance, works with its most important military partners.In the meeting, Pentagon officials indicated that Washington was not yet satisfied with the strides Europe has made to boost its defense capabilities since Russia’s expanded invasion of Ukraine in 2022.The US officials told their counterparts that if Europe does not meet the 2027 deadline, the US may stop participating in some NATO defense coordination mechanisms, said the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss private conversations.Some officials on Capitol Hill are aware of and concerned about the Pentagon’s message to the Europeans, one US official said.Conventional defense capabilities include non-nuclear assets from troops to weapons and the officials did not explain how the US would measure Europe’s progress toward shouldering most of the burden.It was also not clear if the 2027 deadline represented the Trump administration position or only the views of some Pentagon officials.There are significant disagreements in Washington over the military role the US should play in Europe.Several European officials said that a 2027 deadline was not realistic no matter how Washington measures progress, since Europe needs more than money and political will to replace certain US capabilities in the short term....