rearme Archives - usatoday24

Europe has realized that the rearme must start on the roads. A Russian invasion would unleash a fatal congestion

July 29, 2025 by usatoday24

In 2022 there was already talk of this: having a better army does not help much if it cannot be launched. That year was the beginning of many meetings in Europe with the Russian Ukraine Invasion as a fuse. Then there was talk of rearmebut attention also focused on something that Europe has just elevated in the priority list: the need to prepare roads, railways, ports and airports for the rapid movement of troops and tanks. Background: Russia. European military vulnerability. Had three years ago The political environment that the debate on the real capacity of Europe to resist an eventual Russian attack had put a fundamental aspect that usually is hidden behind rearmament ads: it is not enough to have more tanks or soldiers if the necessary infrastructure To move them quickly. Roads, railroads, ports and airports of the European Union show serious limitations when it comes to supporting the weight and volume of modern armored ones, or absorbing an intense military traffic in times of crisis. The east. As He warned then The American Lieutenant retired Ben Hodges, excommanting of the United States Army in Europe, the problem is aggravated the more advances east: bridges unable to support German, British or American combat cars and mountainous routes that hinder access to key countries such as Romania. In case of emergency, bottlenecks could delay the deployment of allied forces just at the points where they would be needed more urgently, such as the passage of Suwałki between Poland and Lithuania or the routes towards the Black Sea. The first mechanism. To deal with these shortcomings, The EU launched The mechanism connect Europe (CEF), an infrastructure fund that also covers military mobility. However, the budget for this mission was drastically reduced: of the 6,500 million euros initially proposed only 1.7 billionand that money, the commission ended up assigning 340 million to 22 projectsthe majority of small scale and focused on central Europe. Among them They highlighted the improvement of rail links between Antwerp and Germany, the modernization of two airports in Poland and the connection of the Military Tapa base in Estonia. Modest support were also included to large strategic projects Like Rail Balticathe railway corridor of 5.8 billion euros that will connect the Baltic countries with Poland, or Via Baltica, the road that crosses the region, which it received just 60 million of community support. The new warning. Back to the present, he counted this week The Financial Times That the European Transport Commissioner, Apostols Tzitzikostas, has re -launched a warning that shook the foundations of the European defense: the continent It is not prepared For a large -scale war against Russia because its roads, bridges and rail networks are inappropriate for rapid transfer of troops and armored. According to explainedmany bridges are Too closetoo old or directly non -existent, which would prevent the transit of tanks from, for example, 70 tons thought to operate in a matter of hours. In practice, moving military forces from west to east of Europe would take weeks or even months, an unacceptable lag in case of a sudden Russian offensive. The strategy. Solution? To correct this structural weakness, Brussels now work on a 17,000 million plan of euros that provides for the modernization of 500 critical projects along four major military corridors that will cross the continent. It is a design made in coordination with NATO and its military controls, whose details remain classified for security reasons. The idea is that troops and heavy equipment can move in a matter of hoursfar reducing the reaction time to an aggression. In addition to reinforcing bridges and adapting roads, it will be sought Eliminate bureaucratic obstacles To prevent military convoys from being held on European borders by customs protocols that, in times of war, would be a fatal ballast. The context of rearme and Russia. The new plan is enrolled in a broader effort of rearme Continental that We have been counting. The European Union studies a package of up to 800,000 million euros to reinforce its defensive autonomyin part in response to the pressures of Washington and the possibility of a substantial reduction of the US military presence in Europe. To this is added The warning The NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, who in June warned that Moscow could attack a member of the Alliance before 2030. The message of Tzitzikostas fits this urgency logic: without the ability to move troops agilely, any European defense plan would be on wet paper in front of Russian military machinery. The budget struggle. Although the European Commission has included military mobility in its proposal for the 2028-2034 budget, diplomats warn that the initial figure of 17,000 million It could be diluted In negotiations. This budget fragility is seen as a dangerous contradiction: While considering the expense in defense 5% of GDP (With 1.5% specifically intended for military infrastructure), some Member States (Spain at the head) They resist to assume the costs of such vast modernization. Tzitzikostas, meanwhile, insists in which Europe cannot afford to continue depending on others or be disarmed by its own bureaucratic slowness. The modernization of bridges, tunnels and railways is not just a matter of civil transport: it has become the backbone of the future European defense. One thing is clear for curator: an invasion would not wait for forms to be resolved or to reinforce a bridge. Image | 7th Army Training, US Army Europe, European Roads In Xataka | If Europe rearma we will find a problem that will affect us all: cars and trains In Xataka | The “rearme” in Europe has encountered an obstacle that neither US imagined: Spain

In full European rearme, Belgium has just expanded his f-35 fighter request. The next step is much more ambitious

July 22, 2025 by usatoday24

In full European rearme, not exempt from obstaclesBelgium will expand your request for F-35 With eleven new units. Thus adds to other allies such as the United Kingdom, who continue to bet on the American hunting Despite the problems that its deployment has raised. The current geopolitical context has once again placed aerial superiority in the center of the strategic board. Belgium had already commissioned 34 F-35 in 2018 With a clear objective: replace its aging F-16 fleet, a hunt that has been in service decades. At that time, the Belgian government opted for the American model against other proposals such as the Eurofighteralleging interoperability reasons, costs throughout the life cycle and compatibility with NATO nuclear weapons. Why the F-35 is the option that Belgium continues to see how more solid To date, eight units have been delivered, All in US baseswhere they serve as a training platform for the first Belgian pilots. The new order will raise the total figure to 45, in a decision framed in the reinforcement of the military budget agreed by the current government, that has committed to achieve 2% of GDP in defense in 2025 and climb up to 2.5% in the following decade. The investment planned for this extension amounts to about 1.6 billion euros, According to the strategic vision document. Although the F-16 have been updated over the years-and remain operational in several countries-it is a fourth generation platform, without furtive abilities and with less integrated sensors. They are versatile, reliable and relatively economic fighters, but belong to another era. In some scenarios, the technological difference with F-35 is abysmal. The new Lockheed Martin hunt offers a poaching, fusion of real -time sensors, advanced electronic warfacities and, above all, It is certified to carry American nuclear armament. Beyond conventional combat, this renewal of the fleet has deep strategic implications. Belgium is one of the European countries that actively participates in the strategy of NATO nuclear deterrence. To fulfill that paper, you need compatible aircraft with nuclear pumps that it is believed that they are stored in the base of Kleine Brogel. The current F-16 are certified for that mission, and the F-35 not only inherits that function, but reinforces it with more stealthy and precise technology. The delivery calendar also imposes its own limits. According to VRTthe Lockheed Martin production line is practically saturated, and the first additional fighters will not arrive until after 2033. The decision to expand the fleet, in that sense, is also a long -term commitment: future governments may resume the issue and add more units if the budgetary conditions allow it. Apart from F-35, Belgium seeks to gain weight in the air defense of the continent. In parallel to this acquisition, he has reserved 300 million euros to fully integrate into the second phase of the FCAS, The New Generation European Hunting Program. The objective is to be at the table where the technological standards of the next decades are defined, without renouncing the US fleet. On the horizon, a future coexistence is even contemplated between the F-35 and the plane that emerges from the FCAS after 2040, if the staff and the budget allow it. Images | US Air Force (1, 2, 3) In Xataka | China will need 9,000 new airplanes in the coming years. And a manufacturer takes the lead to Boeing: Airbus

The “rearme” in Europe has encountered an obstacle that neither US imagined: Spain

June 20, 2025 by usatoday24

A few days after the NATO Summit in The Hague is held, the main concern among allied leaders does not revolve around To Ukraine or Russiabut how to prevent Trump from dynamite. The US president has become the axis around which he orbits the transatlantic policy, and in an effort to maintain their support (or at least their neutrality), the organizers have compressed the format less than two days. What nobody expected was the “bomb” that It had Spain. Spain and the rearme. Yes, the planned summit has been involved in a strong tension After the firm opposition of the president of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, to the new objective of military spending that the United States seeks to impose. In a categorical letter sent to the Secretary General of the Alliance, Mark Rutte, Sánchez qualifies “Irrazonable” The claim to raise the 5% defense expense of GDP, a requirement promoted by Trump under the threat of withdrawing US military protection to countries that do not comply. The Spanish refusal is not symbolic: it calls into question the political foundations of the summit and could dynamite a consensus that It was assured Among the 32 members, at a time of deep uncertainty About him future commitment Washington with European security. The Spanish model. Sánchez argues that a hurried adoption of such a threshold would have negative consequences both economic and social. In his opinion, fulfilling 5% would force Increase taxes On the middle classes, drastically reduce essential public services and sacrifice high economic impact investments in sectors such as education, health, technological research or ecological transition. Sánchez and two dangers. The warning according to Spain is double: on the one hand, Budgetwarning of a brake to growth derived with greater indebtedness and inflation. On the other, policypointing out that this sacrifice would fall on structural pillars of the welfare state. In Your letterthe president also emphasizes that this imposed goal would lead to countries to make hurried military purchases that would only increase the dependency of non -European suppliers and would erode the industrial base of defense of the continent. Beyond the economic, Spain exposes a strategic concern about the Interoperability and operational cohesion Within the alliance if the Member States begin to rearm without a common road map. Fracture within the alliance. The Financial Times counted that the Spanish position coincides with the resistance of few other members, although most have given their support to the Rutte proposal to reach an expense of 3.5% of GDP in direct defense plus 1.5% in critical infrastructures and cybersecurity, configuring a total equivalent to 5% required by Trumpbut more nuanced. However, the Negative of Spain It arrives at a time of special institutional fragility: Trump has demonstrated manifest disinterest by multilateral summits, leaving a G7 meeting after disregarding the meetings with Zelenski and showing irritation to Macron to hinder their aspirations on Greenland. European makeup According to the New York Timesthe (re) flag -bearer definition in the matter of “rearme” has generated a mixture of confusion and discomfort among the defense ministers, many of which are not clear about what can be included or when the objective should be achieved. The result is, in the words of European analysts, a makeup operation Political: an inflated figure with inaccurate concepts to satisfy Trump without really compromising the economic and social model of several countries. According to Nathalie Toccidirector of the Institute of International Affairs of Italy, “3.5% is real and responds to the needs of NATO, 1.5% is pure theater to calm Trump.” Without compass club. The scenario also reflects other tensions. The main one: the debate has revealed deep divisions Within the alliance. Some border countries with Russia demand Accelerate spending To dissuade a possible Russian offensive in the next five years, while others (such as Canada, Italy, Spain or Luxembourg) barely have just achieved the 2% target set a decade ago (Spain or that). Germany asks A “realistic commitment” between what is necessary and the feasible, while Luxembourg denounces that the figures should not guide securitybut real capacities. The Rutte proposal Nor has it managed to clarify whether part of military aid to Ukraine can Computing as an expense Internal defensive, a key aspect for countries that wish to sustain their contribution without weakening their own national capacities. This ambiguity has led to debates about what is considered military investment and what enters the “related” spending category, leaving the land paid to opportunistic interpretationsdouble computations and/or statistical divergences that can erode mutual trust. Europe under pressure. Even if governments promised to spend more, it is not clear that the defense industry (neither European nor American) can absorb quickly Those funds. The bottleneck It is not just prosecutorbut logistics, industrial and technological. In addition, increasing spending without a common strategy could be translated In precipitated purchasesuncoordinated and focused on external suppliers, aggravating operational fragmentation. While, I remembered the Times that the Russian threat is still tangible. NATO’s intelligence services estimate that, once the war in Ukraine ends, Moscow could reconstitute an offensive force capable of directing directly to the eastern flank of the alliance within five years. We have already told it, countries as Estonia or Finland consider that There is no time to lose and demand immediate actions. However, the United Kingdom will not reach 3% to 2034 And other allies continue to drag Structural delays that question their real commitment. The structural challenge. So, Spain, one of the few allied capitals that has not even reached the current threshold of that 2%, is now in the center of a pulse strategic that transcends the budget. The Sánchez letter raises Two outputs A RUTTE: to be exempt from any new approved objective or allow a flexible formula that volunteers will volunteer the 5%goal. Thus, what is at stake is not only spending, but Shared Defense Model and the principles of balance and proportionality between allies. Historical Summit. In short, Sanchez’s letter reveals a deep crack between the strategic priorities of … Read more

In Europe the rearme quotes up and cars. And a Basque Components factory wants to take advantage of it

March 27, 2025 by usatoday24

When Europe announced the need of a “rearme”hardly someone could have guessed the sector that has seen in the proposal a formula to put the leg: the engine. First it was Germany Through the Almighty Rheinmetall, the largest defense contractor in the nation. Things are so quite well that it has set the car industry and its factories to continue producing armament without rest. Even Volkswagen is in the equation. Now the turn of Spain has reached. Industrial conversion. I told it This week five days. Before the structural stagnation of the European automobile sector, several Spanish component companies have begun to look towards the defense industry as a path of diversification (and survival). The first of these stops takes us to the Basque Country, where Teknia (Basque manufacturer of car components) has been one of the first actors to openly manifest Your interest in manufacturing pieces For military applications, in a context where, as we said, Europe is in full Rearme process motivated by Russian threat and Strategic distancing of the United States. The company argues that, while the automotive has been excluded from the group of strategic sectors in Europe, defense and aerospace They have received that recognitionwhich, added to the regulatory hardening and the fall in the demand for vehicles, forces to explore new opportunities for Keep facilities alive industrialists From the civil vehicle to the military. The newspaper explained something we already said weeks ago. The transition from the automotive sector to the military is, in many cases, technically and logistically viable. The reasoning is clear: the armies also use vehicles, and many of the technologies of forming, stamping or injection applicable in the automotive They can easily adapt to the production of military units, whether trucks, armored or mobile logistics systems. This logic is backed by cases such as Ivecocompany with two floors in Spain, which already has a division dedicated exclusively to the defense business. For the Spanish Government, the use of its large ecosystem of suppliers of automotive components appears as a Fast and efficient route to climb your productive capacity in military. Germany as an epicenter. And here we return to the beginning of everything. As we explain In mid -March, in Germany this industrial reconversion process is in a more advanced stage. Rheinmetall, one of the main European arms groups, has expressed interest in The plant that Volkswagen It has in Osnabrück, affected by a drastic restructuring. In 2024, the automobile group announced the Elimination of 35,000 jobs and one Reduction of its capacity Annual production in Germany, which will go from 734,000 vehicles to a substantially lower figure by 2030. Rheinmetalll in full. This setback in the German industry coincides with the stock market of Rheinmetall, whose actions are They have revalued 122.2% So far this year, promoted by the urgency of European rearmament before The Russian threat and Berlin’s commitment to increase your investment In defense. The paradox is revealing: the industrial wound of the heart from Europe could cater thanks to Geopolitical fear already one New arms race. Employment, production and integration. It is another leg that explains the movement. The defense industry not only represents an alternative of economic sustainability for automotive companies (now in Spain), but also offers a Multiplier effect in terms of employment and technological development. Explained in five days that an eloquent example is that of CMBDA European Onsorciospecialized in missile systems, which has significantly increased its workforce: it hired 2,600 people in 2024, reaching The 19,000 employeesand plans to add another 2,500 hiring in the current exercise. Despite its presence in many of the great European economies, MBDA still does not have plants in Spain, although its CEO seems to have made it clear that this could change, which underlines the country’s appeal in the new industrial map of the European defense. Structural transformation. Thus, what is at stake is not a simple business diversification, but something more similar to a structural transformation that could alter the nature of the European industry. The conversion of plants, the reuse of existing technical capacities and the reorientation of human resources could allow the countries of the European Union not only to strengthen their strategic autonomy in defense, but also keep alive industrial structures otherwise, they would run the risk of deteriorating with the decline of traditional automotive. No doubt, this evolution is not exempt from challenges, but offers a pragmatic response to the slowdown of a sector in crisis and the urgency of a continental reload. From the car to artillery. It is still an industrial paradigm. What in another context could have been a without exit crisis, it is currently emerging as a window of opportunity. At a time when European security is again in the Political agenda centereven with unusual ads collection for 72 hoursand when the economic model based on the private car It seems to lose pushthe reconversion of the automotive sector Towards defense It appears as a realistic, productive and politically viable solution. They said it in The five -day report Through the implicit words of the sector: it does not matter if the machinery manufactures a chassis for a sedan or a structure for a armored. Here the essential thing is that it continues to work. Thus, from the ashes of the engine, a new industry can flourish, although this time at the service of European sovereignty. Image | Tekniagroup, Rheinmetall Defense In Xataka | The “rearme” of Europe has begun in a Volkswagen factory in Germany: instead of cars they will produce tanks In Xataka | Europe before its time of truth: we have entered the era of “rearme” and the EU has a plan not to be behind

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