Jannik Hartmann, a fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations, confirmed that a U.S. pullback — from Germany’s Ramstein Air Base, for instance — would leave Europe without basic loading gear like ramps and flatbed wagons. Europe also has few forward stockpiles of military hardware, whereas the U.S. has pre-positioned supplies across Germany, Poland and the Netherlands, Kruijver said.
Air-to-air refueling — essential in contested airspace — is still largely a U.S. domain. Europe’s defense of its eastern flank relies on American-financed NATO fuel networks stretching across the continent. If Washington retreats, countries like France and Germany would scramble to fill the gap, Hartmann wrote in a LinkedIn post.
The dependence extends beyond logistics: Europe also relies on U.S. intelligence, cyber defenses and hybrid threat detection. “If the U.S. pulls back, real-time intelligence and satellite surveillance will be the first to suffer,” said Simon Van Hoeymissen, a researcher at the Brussels-based Royal Higher Institute for Defense.
U.S. cybersecurity capabilities play a crucial role in defending Europe’s military networks. Without them, the continent’s infrastructure would become an easy target for cyberattacks, sabotage and disinformation campaigns. Even with increased investment, Europe would struggle to replace these capabilities in the short term, Hartmann noted.
Blocked roads
But even assuming Europe could procure its own assets, moving troops, tanks and fuel across the continent — and not necessarily along the old west-to-east pathway traditional to NATO — would be a challenge.
Hodges called European infrastructure “one of the greatest challenges” to military mobility.