Overview
- NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Thursday that the United States has adjusted its commitments under the secret NATO Force Model and that those changes take effect immediately.
- Reporting and NATO officials say the U.S. reductions remove or cut back specific high-end assets from planning, including strategic bombers, one carrier strike group, many destroyers and cruisers, tanker aircraft, long-range ISR drones, and large numbers of fighters and armed Reaper drones.
- U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a up-to-six-month review of U.S. force posture in Europe and pushed a ‘NATO 3.0’ plan that asks Europe to take primary responsibility for conventional defense.
- Allies and Canada have pledged extra contributions that cover some gaps and NATO officials say some shortfalls are already or nearly filled, while Germany separately pledged $400 million for Ukraine support.
- The Force Model is a planning tool that assigns who provides what forces and when, and NATO ministers must now agree on precise timelines and a road map to replace capabilities before the July summit in Ankara.