March 16, 2025, 3:02 pm
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The Russian invasion of Ukraine kicked off a significant increase in military spending across NATO with the vast majority of NATO members hitting their spending targets by 2024.
The diplomatic fissures with the United States in 2025 however, have prompted an even more dramatic response and many allies now seem to be prioritising greater independence from the U.S. and U.S. products alongside the goal of greater military readiness.
With the EU introducing the ReArm Europe plan, Germany moving to exempt most defence spending from debt restrictions and many alliance members now planning defence ramp-ups, today we look at some of those plans.
This episode covers a few of the initiatives and efforts we’ve seen announced so far, what they could achieve, what the dynamics of alliance members attempting to reduce their often long-running reliance on U.S. arms and equipment.
Patreon:
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Reading and Sourcing (to be updated):
UKDJ – on Switzerland & the F-35
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/no-f-35-kill-switch-claims-swizterland/
Example "kill switch" article
https://www.euronews.com/next/2025/03/13/can-the-us-turn-off-european-weapons-experts-weigh-in-on-kill-switch-fears
Reporting on Canada ‘reconsidering’ F-35 purchase
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/f35-blair-trump-1.7484477
https://apnews.com/article/f35-canada-trump-0d3bf192d3490d87570d48475ff2c3a6
Le Penne on French nuclear weapons and European security
https://www.politico.eu/article/france-nuclear-defense-sharing-marine-le-pen-europe/v
Eutelsat shares jump
https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/eutelsat-committed-boosting-europes-satellite-autonomy-continued-support-ukraine-2025-03-03/
NYT article from 2023 on Starlink in Ukrainian service
Defense News – Trump associate floats idea of transatlantic warplane program
https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2025/03/03/trump-associate-floats-idea-of-transatlantic-warplane-program/
Featured article on US support for UK Trident missiles
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/08/us-support-uk-nuclear-arsenal-in-doubt-trident-france
UK Parliamentary Office of Science & Technology – Managing the UK Plutonium Stockpile
https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/POST-PN-0531/POST-PN-0531.pdf
Reporting on Trump refusing to rule out the use of military force
https://www.reuters.com/world/trump-wont-rule-out-military-economic-action-he-seeks-control-panama-canal-2025-01-07/
Reporting on German deal
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/german-court-clears-path-merzs-massive-borrowing-plans-2025-03-14/
https://www.politico.eu/article/germanys-merz-secures-breakthrough-on-historic-spending-plan/
https://www.euronews.com/2025/03/14/germanys-cdu-and-spd-reach-historic-debt-deal-to-jump-start-defence-spending
"Germany is back"
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgd3d427kqo
Rheinmetall new plants and agreements:
https://www.rheinmetall.com/en/media/news-watch/news/2024/11/2024-11-29-rheinmetall-signs-agreement-for-ammunition-production-plant
https://www.rheinmetall.com/en/media/news-watch/news/2024/02/2024-02-12-rheinmetall-builds-new-ammunition-factory-in-unterluess-ground-breaking-ceremony-with-chancellor-scholz
https://interfax.com/newsroom/top-stories/100437/
Macron pushing for more defence spending
https://www.politico.eu/article/emmanuel-macron-spending-minister-defense-donald-trump-us-france/
UK to increase defence spending
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/prime-minister-sets-out-biggest-sustained-increase-in-defence-spending-since-the-cold-war-protecting-british-people-in-new-era-for-national-security#:~:text=Defence%20spending%20to%20increase%20to,national%20security%20and%20protecting%20borders.
Caveats & Comments:
All normal caveats and comments apply. In particular – I would like to note as always that this material has been created for entertainment purposes and is not intended to be a complete or comprehensive examination of the topic in question and should not be relied upon to inform financial or other similar decisions.
Any content relating to the conduct, views, activities or any aspect of any person or character in this video is included for entertainment purposes and does not represent an assertion of fact on those matters or any matters in relation to that person or character.
Care has been taken in compiling data, quotes, and other inputs from various sources but errors can occur. Quotes and included data should be considered, at most, indicative.
Content Creator – Perun
