European governments are accelerating efforts to develop domestic defense technology, production capacity and capital markets, a policy shift that is reducing their dependence on U.S. suppliers without ending their reliance on NATO interoperability.
George Hoyem argued in a recent LinkedIn post that NATO countries are decoupling from U.S. defense technology in favor of indigenous capability [1]. The public record supports a narrower but significant conclusion: Canada, the United Kingdom and the European Union are making sovereign control, local industrial capacity and supply-chain resilience explicit defense priorities.
The European Union’s European Defence Industrial Strategy calls for stronger European investment in the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base. Its broader Readiness 2030 agenda says the increased spending will be “made in Europe,” aims to reduce critical dependencies and seeks a simplified EU defense market by 2030 [2] [3]. The Commission says the agenda could mobilize up to €800 billion in defense investment, including a €150 billion Security Action for Europe loan instrument intended to encourage Member States to spend “better, together and European” [3].
Canada and the United Kingdom have adopted parallel measures. The Business Development Bank of Canada launched a C$4 billion Defence Platform to finance Canadian defense and security businesses, including C$500 million for defense-innovation investment and dual-use deep technology [4]. The UK’s 2025 Defence Industrial Strategy says it will back UK-based businesses, sustain sovereign capabilities and strengthen British suppliers in artificial intelligence, autonomy, quantum and space technology [5]. It also proposes an offset policy for overseas suppliers to generate British jobs and technology investment [5].
The policy direction does not amount to an alliance-wide technological break with the United States. The UK’s Strategic Defence Review calls its approach “NATO First” [6]. The EU says its readiness initiatives were developed in close coordination with NATO [3]. NATO’s own Innovation Fund is a €1 billion-plus venture fund backed by 24 allies and designed to support deep-technology companies across the alliance [7].
The strategic change is therefore not a withdrawal from the transatlantic defense market but a rebalancing within it. European and Canadian governments are building the ability to source, operate and sustain more critical technology under domestic or regional control, while preserving the interoperability, capital links and procurement relationships that underpin NATO.
References
[1] George Hoyem: NATO is decoupling from US defense tech
[2] European Commission: EDIS | Our common defence industrial strategy
[3] European Commission: Future of European defence
[4] Business Development Bank of Canada: Defence Platform
[5] UK Ministry of Defence: Defence Industrial Strategy 2025
[6] UK Ministry of Defence: Strategic Defence Review 2025
[7] NATO Innovation Fund
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