The United States is planning sweeping cuts to the military assets it makes available to NATO for crisis scenarios, according to a report from German outlet Der Spiegel published on May 26. The reductions touch nearly every category of conventional military hardware, from fighter jets to submarines, and represent one of the most concrete steps yet in Washington’s push to shift defense burdens onto European allies.
What the cuts actually look like
The numbers, as reported by Der Spiegel, are not subtle. Fighter jets available to NATO in emergency scenarios would be reduced by one-third. Strategic bombers, the kind designed for long-range strikes, would be cut in half.
Naval destroyers earmarked for the alliance would also see reductions. And in the most striking detail: zero submarines would be allocated for NATO use in crisis situations.
The cuts were outlined in a closed-door briefing led by US envoy Alexander Velez-Green to senior NATO officials in Brussels the week before the Spiegel report went public.
In May 2026, Washington also announced plans to withdraw approximately 5,000 troops from Europe and cancel a planned brigade rotation to Poland.
The strategic logic, such as it is
Washington has reportedly maintained its nuclear commitment to NATO, which is the ultimate security guarantee. But conventional forces are being scaled back in a way that European defense planners can’t easily ignore.
Europe is already grappling with the security implications of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, and several NATO members have been ramping up defense budgets in response. Germany, for instance, has been in the middle of a historic defense spending overhaul, and recently deployed a brigade to Lithuania.
What this means for investors
The more immediate market implications likely play out in European defense stocks, currency markets, and sovereign debt spreads for countries on NATO’s eastern flank. A weakened transatlantic security framework could put pressure on the euro, drive capital flows toward dollar-denominated assets, or increase the ambient level of global uncertainty.
The withdrawal of approximately 5,000 troops and the cancellation of the Poland brigade rotation signal that assets are physically moving and commitments are being unwound. Notably, these adjustments will not immediately change the peacetime US military presence in Europe, but do coincide with ongoing rotations of US troops in the region.