{"id":4642021,"date":"2026-07-09T11:28:42","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T09:28:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/europe-nato-airpower-gap-us-steps-back-2026\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T16:44:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T14:44:27","slug":"europa-divario-di-potenza-aerea-nato-gli-stati-uniti-fanno-un-passo-indietro-nel-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/it\/europe-nato-airpower-gap-us-steps-back-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"L&#039;Europa riuscir\u00e0 a mantenere il controllo dello spazio aereo se l&#039;America si far\u00e0 da parte?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style><\/p>\r\n<p>For three-quarters of a century, European security rested on a single quiet assumption: if the sky over the continent ever caught fire, American airpower would arrive to put it out. At this month\u2019s NATO summit, the alliance\u2019s top commander made clear that the assumption now carries an asterisk.<\/p>\r\n<p>General Alexus Grynkewich, the U.S. Air Force officer who serves as NATO\u2019s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, confirmed that Washington is \u201crightsizing\u201d what it commits to the alliance\u2019s war plans \u2014 and that the reductions fall on precisely the capabilities Europe has leaned on America to supply: air and maritime power.<\/p>\r\n<p>The message to Europe and Canada was blunt. Fill the gaps yourselves.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background: #f5f5f5; padding: 20px 24px; margin: 24px 0; border-radius: 8px;\">\r\n<p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18px; color: #333;\">Quick Facts<\/p>\r\n<table style=\"width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 15px;\">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 6px 12px 6px 0; color: #666; vertical-align: top; white-space: nowrap;\"><strong>Who<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 6px 0; color: #333;\">Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 6px 12px 6px 0; color: #666; vertical-align: top; white-space: nowrap;\"><strong>What<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 6px 0; color: #333;\">The U.S. is reducing its NATO Force Model contributions \u2014 air and maritime capabilities<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 6px 12px 6px 0; color: #666; vertical-align: top; white-space: nowrap;\"><strong>Detail<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 6px 0; color: #333;\">Specific cuts are classified; only the categories have been disclosed<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 6px 12px 6px 0; color: #666; vertical-align: top; white-space: nowrap;\"><strong>Europe\u2019s response<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 6px 0; color: #333;\">Allies have reportedly backfilled almost all identified gaps<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 6px 12px 6px 0; color: #666; vertical-align: top; white-space: nowrap;\"><strong>Still thin<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 6px 0; color: #333;\">Strategic enablers \u2014 ISR, aerial refuelling, SEAD, heavy airlift<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 6px 12px 6px 0; color: #666; vertical-align: top; white-space: nowrap;\"><strong>Where<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 6px 0; color: #333;\">NATO summit, July 2026<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top: 22px;\">The Asterisk<\/h2>\r\n<p>Grynkewich was careful, and pointed. The details of what has changed in the NATO Force Model \u2014 the catalogue of forces allies pledge to the alliance\u2019s defence plans \u2014 are secret. The direction is not.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background: #f8f9fa; border-left: 4px solid #1565c0; padding: 20px 22px; margin: 18px 0 24px; border-radius: 0 8px 8px 0; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.7; display: flex; gap: 20px; align-items: flex-start;\"><a style=\"flex-shrink: 0;\" href=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/07\/general-alexus-grynkewich.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img data-opt-id=2000612366  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" style=\"width: 96px; height: 96px; border-radius: 50%; object-fit: cover; object-position: center; display: block; border: 2px solid #ddd;\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/07\/general-alexus-grynkewich.jpg\" alt=\"Gen. Alexus Grynkewich\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" \/><\/a>\r\n<div><em>\u201cI won\u2019t get into specifics about which things have been adjusted in the NATO Force Model, since that is classified, but we have said that it\u2019s air and maritime capabilities, and we\u2019ve said that allies should step forward and fill some of those requirements.\u201d<\/em>\r\n<div style=\"margin-top: 10px; font-size: 14px; color: #555;\"><strong>Gen. Alexus Grynkewich<\/strong> \u2014 NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n<p>The shift reflects a hard strategic reality rather than a fit of pique. The United States is planning for the possibility of a simultaneous crisis in the Indo-Pacific, and it no longer wishes to promise Europe forces it might need on the other side of the world. For a continent that spent the Cold War treating American airpower as a fixed feature of the landscape, that is a profound adjustment.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin: 0 0 24px;\"><img data-opt-id=1954957528  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" style=\"max-width: 100%; height: auto; border-radius: 6px;\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/07\/raf-typhoon-baltic-air-policing.jpg\" alt=\"An RAF Typhoon on NATO Baltic Air Policing\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" \/>\r\n<figcaption style=\"font-size: 13px; color: #777; text-align: center; margin-top: 6px; font-style: italic;\">European fighters already carry the daily burden of NATO\u2019s eastern watch: an RAF Typhoon on Baltic Air Policing. Photo: UK MOD \/ Crown Copyright via Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top: 22px;\">Backfilling the Sky<\/h2>\r\n<p>The encouraging news, delivered at the same summit, is that Europe is rising to it. NATO officials indicated that allies have already backfilled almost all of the gaps left by the American drawdown \u2014 a striking claim given how recently European air forces were dismissed as hollow. Baltic Air Policing has for years been flown largely by European Typhoons, <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/rafale\">Rafales<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/saab-gripen\">Gripens<\/a>; the continent now fields hundreds of modern fighters and a growing fleet of <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/f-35-lightning-ii\">F-35s<\/a> from Britain to Finland.<\/p>\r\n<p>Yet fighters are the visible part. The harder gaps are the unglamorous enablers that only the United States has fielded at scale: airborne early warning, electronic attack, the suppression of enemy air defences, aerial refuelling and strategic airlift. A Rafale is a superb aircraft; it still needs a tanker to reach the fight and an AWACS to see it. Those are the capabilities Europe must now buy in depth, not merely borrow.<\/p>\r\n<p>Grynkewich framed the change not as abandonment but as candour.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background: #f8f9fa; border-left: 4px solid #5C91FF; padding: 20px 22px; margin: 18px 0 24px; border-radius: 0 8px 8px 0; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.7; display: flex; gap: 20px; align-items: flex-start;\">\r\n<div><em>\u201cThis makes me have a more realistic plan. What the U.S. is doing is accounting for other global contingencies that it might find itself in and not just promising something that it may not be able to give.\u201d<\/em>\r\n<div style=\"margin-top: 10px; font-size: 14px; color: #555;\"><strong>Gen. Alexus Grynkewich<\/strong> \u2014 NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; margin: 24px 0;\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border: 0; border-radius: 8px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AcSaboNH7V8\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-no-lazy=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p>A survey of how European air forces might reorganise to stand on their own.<\/p>\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top: 22px;\">A More Honest Alliance<\/h2>\r\n<p>There is a case that this is healthier than the arrangement it replaces. A plan that assumes reinforcements which may never come is not a plan; it is a hope. By stating plainly what it will and will not guarantee, Washington forces European capitals to confront the true cost of their own defence \u2014 and, so far, they appear willing to pay it.<\/p>\r\n<p>The sky over Europe is still, for now, an allied sky. The difference is that Europeans are being asked to hold it themselves, with American help as a reinforcement rather than a certainty. Whether the continent can build the tankers, radars and jammers to match its growing fleets of fighters is the question that will define NATO airpower for the rest of the decade.<\/p>\r\n<p><em>Sources: Air &amp; Space Forces Magazine; Defense News; The Washington Post; U.S. European Command.<\/em><\/p>\r\n<!-- mf-faq -->\r\n\r\n\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-block\"><style>.mf-faq-block{margin:34px 0}.mf-faq-item:not([open]) .mf-faq-answer{display:none !important}.mf-faq-block h2.mf-faq-h{padding-top:22px;margin-bottom:14px}.mf-faq-item{border:1px solid #e2e8f5;border-radius:8px;margin:0 0 10px;background:#fff}.mf-faq-item summary{list-style:none;cursor:pointer;padding:15px 50px 15px 18px;font-weight:600;color:#1a1a1a;position:relative;line-height:1.45;user-select:none}.mf-faq-item summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mf-faq-item summary::after{content:\"+\";position:absolute;right:18px;top:50%;transform:translateY(-50%);font-size:1.5em;font-weight:400;color:#5C91FF;line-height:1}.mf-faq-item[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mf-faq-item[open] summary{border-bottom:1px solid #eef1f8}.mf-faq-item summary:hover{background:#f5f8ff}.mf-faq-answer{padding:14px 18px;color:#333;line-height:1.6}.mf-faq-answer p{margin:0}.mf-faq-answer a{color:#5C91FF}<\/style>\r\n<h2 class=\"mf-faq-h\">Related Questions<\/h2>\r\n<details class=\"mf-faq-item\">\r\n<summary>Who is NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe?<\/summary>\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-answer\">\r\n<p>General Alexus Grynkewich, a US Air Force officer, serves as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR). At the July 2026 NATO summit he confirmed that Washington is reducing \u2014 'rightsizing' \u2014 the air and maritime capabilities it commits to the alliance's defence plans.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\">\r\n<summary>What is the NATO Force Model?<\/summary>\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-answer\">\r\n<p>The NATO Force Model is the catalogue of forces that allies pledge to the alliance's defence plans. Its details are classified, which is why only the categories of the recent American reductions \u2014 air and maritime capabilities \u2014 have been disclosed publicly.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\">\r\n<summary>Is the US pulling forces out of NATO?<\/summary>\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-answer\">\r\n<p>The US is reducing what it commits to NATO's war plans in the air and maritime domains, though the specific cuts are classified. Allies have reportedly backfilled almost all the identified gaps, but the deeper shortfalls lie in strategic enablers that only America has provided at scale.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\">\r\n<summary>What are strategic enablers in NATO?<\/summary>\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-answer\">\r\n<p>Strategic enablers are the capabilities that make everything else work: intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), aerial refuelling, suppression of enemy air defences (SEAD) and heavy airlift. Europe remains thin in all of them, having leaned on the United States to supply these for decades.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\">\r\n<summary>Can Europe defend its own airspace without the US?<\/summary>\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-answer\">\r\n<p>Europe has reportedly filled almost all the specific gaps left by American reductions, but remains short of strategic enablers \u2014 tankers, ISR, SEAD and heavy airlift. Recent moves like NATO's plan to buy <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/nato-globaleye-triton-a400m-ankara-summit-2026\/\">up to ten GlobalEye early-warning aircraft<\/a> show the alliance beginning to close those gaps itself.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\">\r\n<summary>What is NATO doing to replace American capabilities?<\/summary>\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-answer\">\r\n<p>At the July 2026 summit, allies moved on several fronts: NATO opened negotiations for Swedish-built <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/nato-saab-globaleye-replace-e-3-awacs-2026\/\">GlobalEye radar aircraft<\/a> to replace its ageing AWACS fleet, four nations signed for Triton surveillance drones, and pooled tanker and airlift fleets gained new members and aircraft.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/details><\/div>\r\n<p><script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Who is NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"General Alexus Grynkewich, a US Air Force officer, serves as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR). 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At this month\u2019s NATO summit, the alliance\u2019s top commander made clear that the assumption now carries an asterisk. General Alexus Grynkewich, the U.S. Air Force [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":4641913,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[664,670],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4642021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-military-aviation","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Europe&#039;s NATO Airpower Gap as the US Steps Back<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As America pulls back, Europe faces a widening NATO airpower gap. 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