European Rearmament - The ReArm Europe Plan & the Future of U.S. Weapon Sales

Video Description

Sponsored by: Private Internet Access: https://www.piavpn.com/Perun The Russian invasion of Ukraine kicked off a significant increase in military spending across NATO with the vast majority of NATO members hitting their spending targets by 2024. The diplomatic fissures with the United States in 2025 however, have prompted an even more dramatic response and many allies now seem to be prioritising greater independence from the U.S. and U.S. products alongside the goal of greater military readiness. With the EU introducing the ReArm Europe plan, Germany moving to exempt most defence spending from debt restrictions and many alliance members now planning defence ramp-ups, today we look at some of those plans. This episode covers a few of the initiatives and efforts we've seen announced so far, what they could achieve, what the dynamics of alliance members attempting to reduce their often long-running reliance on U.S. arms and equipment. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PerunAU Reading and Sourcing (to be updated): UKDJ - on Switzerland & the F-35 https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/no-f-35-kill-switch-claims-swizterland/ Example "kill switch" article https://www.euronews.com/next/2025/03/13/can-the-us-turn-off-european-weapons-experts-weigh-in-on-kill-switch-fears Reporting on Canada 'reconsidering' F-35 purchase https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/f35-blair-trump-1.7484477 https://apnews.com/article/f35-canada-trump-0d3bf192d3490d87570d48475ff2c3a6 Le Penne on French nuclear weapons and European security https://www.politico.eu/article/france-nuclear-defense-sharing-marine-le-pen-europe/v Eutelsat shares jump https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/eutelsat-committed-boosting-europes-satellite-autonomy-continued-support-ukraine-2025-03-03/ NYT article from 2023 on Starlink in Ukrainian service https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/08/world/europe/elon-musk-starlink-ukraine.html Defense News - Trump associate floats idea of transatlantic warplane program https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2025/03/03/trump-associate-floats-idea-of-transatlantic-warplane-program/ Featured article on US support for UK Trident missiles https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/08/us-support-uk-nuclear-arsenal-in-doubt-trident-france UK Parliamentary Office of Science & Technology - Managing the UK Plutonium Stockpile https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/POST-PN-0531/POST-PN-0531.pdf Reporting on Trump refusing to rule out the use of military force https://www.reuters.com/world/trump-wont-rule-out-military-economic-action-he-seeks-control-panama-canal-2025-01-07/ Reporting on German deal https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/german-court-clears-path-merzs-massive-borrowing-plans-2025-03-14/ https://www.politico.eu/article/germanys-merz-secures-breakthrough-on-historic-spending-plan/ https://www.euronews.com/2025/03/14/germanys-cdu-and-spd-reach-historic-debt-deal-to-jump-start-defence-spending "Germany is back" https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgd3d427kqo Rheinmetall new plants and agreements: https://www.rheinmetall.com/en/media/news-watch/news/2024/11/2024-11-29-rheinmetall-signs-agreement-for-ammunition-production-plant https://www.rheinmetall.com/en/media/news-watch/news/2024/02/2024-02-12-rheinmetall-builds-new-ammunition-factory-in-unterluess-ground-breaking-ceremony-with-chancellor-scholz https://interfax.com/newsroom/top-stories/100437/ Macron pushing for more defence spending https://www.politico.eu/article/emmanuel-macron-spending-minister-defense-donald-trump-us-france/ UK to increase defence spending https://www.gov.uk/government/news/prime-minister-sets-out-biggest-sustained-increase-in-defence-spending-since-the-cold-war-protecting-british-people-in-new-era-for-national-security#:~:text=Defence%20spending%20to%20increase%20to,national%20security%20and%20protecting%20borders. Caveats & Comments: All normal caveats and comments apply. In particular – I would like to note as always that this material has been created for entertainment purposes and is not intended to be a complete or comprehensive examination of the topic in question and should not be relied upon to inform financial or other similar decisions. Any content relating to the conduct, views, activities or any aspect of any person or character in this video is included for entertainment purposes and does not represent an assertion of fact on those matters or any matters in relation to that person or character. Care has been taken in compiling data, quotes, and other inputs from various sources but errors can occur. Quotes and included data should be considered, at most, indicative.