It would be wrong for Europeans to conclude that President Trump wants to withdraw all US forces from Europe. The President simply wants the US military to be NATO’s security guarantor of last resort, not NATO’s “first responder.”

A slate of poorly understood new tariff and sanctions rules are complicating the Trump Administration’s own efforts to boost arms exports, even as sales of American-made weaponry blow past previous highs.

Trump’s America First policies are paying off for U.S. weapons manufacturers.

The future of the RAF is on display at the Farnborough Air Show. With the F-35, the RAF is part of the multi-domain airpower transformation and will work closely with European allies, notably in reshaping Northern Tier Defense. With the Typhoon, the RAF is seeking a modernized aircraft reworked to compliment the F-35 but with a yet undetermined relationship with its European partners. And the A330MRTT and A400M aircraft, as well as MBDA missiles, are part of a broader context of resolving Brexit.

Fresh from the drama of Brussels, Defense Secretary Mattis visited NATO allies across Europe to preach stability, forward progress, and friendship. He remains a popular figure on the continent, but rumblings from Washington have the NATO alliance concerned.

The supposedly “historic” high-level delegation the Trump administration was supposed to be sending to the Farnborough Air Show keeps getting less and less historic.

A year ago, it would have been tempting to write off President Trump’s “bull in a china shop” diplomacy as the product of inexperience and impulsiveness. However, after eighteen months in the White House tenure, Trump is looking like a man with a method, a leader acting according to a consistent ideology — if not… Keep reading →

Russia is threatening the confidence of the young democracies in the Balkan region, where countries have been flocking to NATO and the European Union and leaving Moscow behind.

Most NATO nations don’t pay much. Most nations CAN’T pay much. Most spend on the wrong things. But most of them are moving in the right direction.

Barring the collapse of the British government, London plans to unveil its Combat Air Strategy during the Farnborough Air Show. Unlike its Brexit strategy to leave the European Union, there is general consensus here around the broad thrust of the document: position the UK to remain a key player in the design, development and manufacture… Keep reading →