The British military only has "150 deployable tanks and perhaps a dozen serviceable long-range artillery pieces," the outlet reports, forcing it to even consider sourcing rocket launchers from museums at one point.
The UK military is the United States' leading ally and Europe's largest defense spender. The second largest, France, reportedly has fewer than 90 heavy artillery pieces while Denmark has no heavy artillery, submarines, or air-defense systems.
"Germany’s army has enough ammunition for two days of battle," the WSJ states.
Last year, the US provided around 70% of NATO's defense spending.
Since then, amid the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, America has adopted a more isolationist stance globally. This has caused alarm for Europe, which has been weary of hostility from Russia, especially after their impending success in the Ukraine war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has allegedly "mourned the loss of a Russian empire that encompassed Ukraine and other Eastern European nations including the Baltics."
Budget cuts have caused weapons manufacturing in Europe to dwindle and it is unlikely to improve any time soon as economic growth proves slow.
Europe, with their reliance on the US military dominance, had “systematically demilitarized itself because it didn’t need to spend the money,” said Anthony King, a professor of war studies at the University of Warwick. “They have basically gone to sleep.”
“Although NATO countries’ combined economic and industrial might dwarfs that of Russia and its allies, we are allowing ourselves to be outproduced,” said Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former NATO Secretary-General. “Ukraine is now in a war of attrition, if we do not get serious on ammunition production the threat of war will likely come closer to us.”
