Putin & Russia

[DubSpur]

It's probably a year or 18 months away (that's a feeling, not evidence based) when a big day of reckoning comes and Europe pulls out of using US equipment.
It'll be a big shock, because it'll be a huge reduction in capability.
Quite what it'll do to the US - who knows.
Does feel like it'll be a massive human event

The sooner the better. Spend the money with EU and UK defence manufacturers and give the boost to Europe's economy and not US. I'm sure the US firms will also be delighted with Trump if that happens.

 

[Gutter Boy]

The sooner the better. Spend the money with EU and UK defence manufacturers and give the boost to Europe's economy and not US. I'm sure the US firms will also be delighted with Trump if that happens.

I dont know about Europe, but most of the UK's spending is through BAE Systems, which was an arm of the MoD until Thatcher sold it off, but is still principally a UK company. A lot of defence R&D funding already goes into UK universities too

 

[DubSpur]

I dont know about Europe, but most of the UK's spending is through BAE Systems, which was an arm of the MoD until Thatcher sold it off, but is still principally a UK company. A lot of defence R&D funding already goes into UK universities too

BAE Systems usually accounts for 10-15% of spending, there are loads of other contractors. Close to a billion is normally spent with US contractors. If the majority of European countries are similar it means there's a big wedge being spent with US contractors.