Overview
- In its new assessment, Ifri says Europe would struggle to mobilize troops and produce weapons in a major conflict with Russia.
- Twenty of thirty European EU or NATO members have professional armies of fewer than 15,000 soldiers, according to the report.
- Only about six countries, including France, the United Kingdom and Germany, could field large formations while most others could muster only a few battalions.
- Higher defense spending has not produced a meaningful industrial surge, with guided‑missile output far below levels a confrontation would require.
- Ifri frames European security as reliant on U.S. engagement in NATO and Ukraine’s battlefield success, and it calls for a unified defense‑industrial plan to close decisive gaps by 2030.