Yeah, Europe has a slightly crumbier version of most of the normal military equipment that the US has. The problem is that they have like 5 of them and the US has about a thousand.
For example, Germany has a really good MBT, maybe even better than anything the US has, or at least better than most of what the US would actually field. Nerds will fall all over themselves to compare and tease out exactly which is better, but here is the thing that really matters:
Germany has about 300 of them. The US has 2,500 ready to deploy main battle tanks that might or might not be better than theirs (but are undoubtedly pretty close) and another 2,000 or so in reserves.
Europe has not prepared themselves for war against anyone, let alone a peer military. The US has.
Europe has not prepared for war because every time Europe wanted to prepare for war the US pushed in the other direction. No common army, no better weapons, no nuclear weapons, … All that was anathema. De Gaulle was right and the rest of Europe should have listened to him since decades ago.
Given that France developed and deployed their own nuclear weapons it kind of seems that option was available to the rest of Europe but they decided not to.
Yeah, Europe has a slightly crumbier version of most of the normal military equipment that the US has. The problem is that they have like 5 of them and the US has about a thousand.
For example, Germany has a really good MBT, maybe even better than anything the US has, or at least better than most of what the US would actually field. Nerds will fall all over themselves to compare and tease out exactly which is better, but here is the thing that really matters:
Germany has about 300 of them. The US has 2,500 ready to deploy main battle tanks that might or might not be better than theirs (but are undoubtedly pretty close) and another 2,000 or so in reserves.
Europe has not prepared themselves for war against anyone, let alone a peer military. The US has.
Europe has not prepared for war because every time Europe wanted to prepare for war the US pushed in the other direction. No common army, no better weapons, no nuclear weapons, … All that was anathema. De Gaulle was right and the rest of Europe should have listened to him since decades ago.
Given that France developed and deployed their own nuclear weapons it kind of seems that option was available to the rest of Europe but they decided not to.
De Gaulle wanted a self-defense system for France. The rest were stupid and relied on the US.