Trump throws the future of NATO into doubt. Europe must step up to defend itself

It’s not just tanks. The EU’s 28 countries also maintain 12 kinds of tanker aircraft and 19 kinds of fighting aircraft, according to Sophia Besch at the Centre for European Reform. In Eastern Europe, many spare parts are still supplied by Russia. Some countries that do spend more, like Greece, fritter defence budgets away on a vast headcount and military pensions, rather than technology.  When states do procure hardware, they are overwhelmingly protectionist, coddling their own industries at the cost of effectiveness. As Ms Besch puts it, the whole system is full of “duplication and redundancy”.