While Europe faces significant medium-term constraints in achieving electronic independence from US systems, there are pathways to gradually reducing dependencies. The European Commission’s ”ReArm Europe” plan aims to unlock up to €800 billion for defense, including investment in domestic capabilities[10]. The focus on developing strategic enablers represents a logical starting point, targeting systems that would be necessary to deter or fight without US support.
All key enablers are not in American hands – such as AWACs allocated to NATO and some French assets, present and future.
However, complete independence remains unlikely in the medium term. The deeply integrated nature of transatlantic defense cooperation, combined with the technical challenges of developing advanced electronic systems, ensures that some level of dependency will persist. As one expert noted, Europe ”cannot simply switch off its dependencies on America” but can ”take steps to manage the risks”[10]. The most realistic path forward combines targeted investment in critical capabilities with strategic management of remaining dependencies.