February 16, 2026 at 12:23 PM
Pentagon official blesses Europe’s push to spend defense money at home
“Otherwise people in Germany or Poland or whatever are going to say: ‘Why are we only sending money across the Atlantic?’” said the Pentagon policy chief.
PARIS — The United States has changed its attitude on European allies funneling defense funds to local arms industries, and will be “pragmatic” about governments choosing to buy military equipment domestically, according to a senior U.S. defense official.If countries spend 3.5% or 5% on defense, “we understand that you’re going to need to indigenize a large fraction of that production,” Elbridge Colby, the under secretary of defense for policy, said at a Feb. 13 side event of the Munich Security Conference.“Otherwise people in Germany or Poland or whatever are going to say: ‘Why are we only sending money across the Atlantic?’”The United States over the past 30 years has typically been skeptical or opposed to policies that prioritize European manufacturers for defense projects while limiting American participation.Colby cited “a different attitude now,” with the fundamental U.S.
interest in having allies that do more for their own security.Europe should carry the main burden for its conventional defense, Colby said at a NATO meeting in Brussels on Feb. 12, just ahead of the annual Munich gathering, adding the U.S. wants “partnerships, not dependencies.”Washington will continue to provide its nuclear deterrent, and “in a more limited and focused fashion,” conventional capabilities that contribute to NATO defense, according to the Pentagon policy chief, who has been a proponent of the shifting the U.S.