The European Union wants Americans to know that the money is real, the factories are opening, and the old assumptions no longer apply.
In an opinion piece published Tuesday in Defense News, EU Ambassador to the United States Jovita Neliupšienė laid out the case that Europe’s defense build-up is not a temporary surge but a structural shift. She urged Washington to “judge us not by old assumptions, but by the record we are building together.”
The numbers support her argument.
What Europe Is Spending
EU member states spent 2.1 percent of GDP on defense in 2025, above NATO’s 2 percent benchmark. Frontline allies Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia are moving toward 5 percent. The EU created a $200 billion defense financing program, and 18 member states have already taken the next step to access it. The first $6 billion has been deployed for procurement and production acceleration.
The bloc has also committed to Readiness 2030, a nearly $1 trillion roadmap for new weapons and technology. New factories are opening across Europe, producing next-generation drones, armored vehicles, artificial intelligence systems, and electronic warfare equipment.
One landmark development: Lockheed Martin and Rheinmetall announced plans to produce ATACMS missiles in Germany, the first time these systems will be manufactured outside the United States.
“Europe has become very good at producing ‘haute couture missiles’, highly sophisticated and expensive systems,” Neliupšienė wrote. “The next challenge is to combine that excellence with the ability to produce ‘good enough’ capabilities at scale, including drones.”
‘Don’t Let Perfect Be the Enemy of Good’
The piece was blunt about Europe’s shortcomings. The EU operates 27 separate national defense markets, causing duplication, delays, and inflated costs. Moving toward joint procurement is one of the bloc’s top priorities. Neliupšienė acknowledged the problem and said the EU’s new financing programs are designed to fix it by providing predictable demand that industry can rely on.
The message to Washington is that Europe’s build-up is not about replacing the United States. “This build-up is not about replacing the United States,” she wrote. “It’s about becoming a stronger, more capable ally.”
And it remains profitable for America. Europe remains the largest customer of the US defense industry, accounting for nearly 40 percent of US arms exports, roughly $130 billion. Over half of European defense procurement still comes from American suppliers.
On Ukraine, the EU and its member states have mobilized over $300 billion in overall support, making Europe the largest provider globally. A significant share of that military spending went to US defense companies through joint procurement.
Neliupšienė’s closing line: “Stay tuned, we are just getting started.”
Later this year, the EU will release a new European Security Strategy that will shape the next phase of its defense transformation. For an American audience that has grown accustomed to complaints about European free-riding, the ambassador’s message was clear: the free-riding era is over. Whether the build-up is fast enough to matter is the open question.
Source: Defense News (opinion by EU Ambassador Jovita Neliupšienė)