The United States and European Defense Cooperation European Strategic Autonomy and Fighter Aircraft Procurement Decisions

This paper addresses a topic that has taken on increasing urgency since the presidency of Donald Trump: how can the European Union member states insure strategic autonomy in military defense? One answer given by policymakers and academics alike is that an independent industrial-military base is central to achieving autonomy. In particular, the production and procurement of military equipment ought to be EU-internal. However, the US remains the most important provider of military equipment worldwide, and many EU member states continue to procure from the US. In this context, this paper asks why some EU member states procure fighter jets from the US while others procure from European sources. It hypothesizes that those countries with a security or economic dependence on the US are more likely to continue to procure from the US. The paper tests this hypothesis with a statistical analysis that seeks a relationship between indicators of security and economic dependence on the US and procurement decision. The results this analysis yields are mixed, but I find that on average European countries that decide to procure US-made fighter are more subordinate to the US.