If the European Union wants to be serious about defence, the first step is to stop buying non-European components with a “Buy European Act”, France’s minister for space said on Tuesday.
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Good luck with those half-finished airplanes, then!
That’s funny. Ironically EU has more defense companies that produce e.g. fighters than US does. What EU lacks is capacity, not expertise.
US only have: Lockheed Martin & Boeing. EU have: Airbus, Dassault Aviation & Saab.
What I’m alluding to is that most arms technology in Europe is produced collaboratively with components from both the EU and the United States, meaning that European countries as of right now aren’t capable of cutting out US-produced components without at the very least procuring some kind of replacement.
That is true, but it’s primarily bureaucratic issue as there are active contracts which make switching a slow process. EU is actively working on this, even offering to pay penalties for breaking contracts early so companies can switch to sovereign suppliers as part of the new Readiness 2030 plan. And since most compoments even those manufactured by US companies are manufactured in EU or UK jurisdiction it’s somewhat a non-issue unless US government decides to directly intervene into private US defense companies business and orders them to do something or nationalize them.