Also any military expansion will most definitely be buying more US or Israeli military equipment under the instruction of the US. Does Europe have a domestic equivalent to the F-35 fighter jet, and the THAAD, AEGIS Ashore, Arrow, Patriot PAC 3 air defence systems? The answer is no, which is why Germany just bought Arrow 3 air defence (midcourse ballistic missile interception) batteries from Israel last year. Europe has managed to deliver just one SAMP/T air defence battery to Ukraine in the entire war, so domestic production is just not there. The 80 or so cold war era F-16AM block 15s Ukraine are getting from Europe can only be delivered because of a US support package, and US replacements (F-35s) being sent over to the European countries giving up these F-16s. See Macron saying Europe gave Ukraine all it could give. Also, Europe is definitely not buying the Chinese equivalents to those systems, that would not be allowed. These are all critical capabilities in a hypothetical NATO-Russia war.
Also any military expansion will most definitely be buying more US or Israeli military equipment under the instruction of the US. Does Europe have a domestic equivalent to the F-35 fighter jet, and the THAAD, AEGIS Ashore, Arrow, Patriot PAC 3 air defence systems? The answer is no, which is why Germany just bought Arrow 3 air defence (midcourse ballistic missile interception) batteries from Israel last year. Europe has managed to deliver just one SAMP/T air defence battery to Ukraine in the entire war, so domestic production is just not there. The 80 or so cold war era F-16AM block 15s Ukraine are getting from Europe can only be delivered because of a US support package, and US replacements (F-35s) being sent over to the European countries giving up these F-16s. See Macron saying Europe gave Ukraine all it could give. Also, Europe is definitely not buying the Chinese equivalents to those systems, that would not be allowed. These are all critical capabilities in a hypothetical NATO-Russia war.