France and Germany abandoning a jointproject to build a new fighter jet was just a pointer ::::: Defending Europe in a new era :::: Collaboration and Trust ... lacking ???

It has become a truism to assert that Europe needs to fast-track its own strategic independence in a volatile world. 

A recent paper from the European Council on Foreign Relations describes the continent’s leaders as grappling with “a ‘Schrödinger’s NATO’ moment, in which America remains formally inside the alliance but behaving as though it were not.  

France’s heavyweight status when it comes to defence has been a source of national pride in the postwar period. 

But it does not have the resources to modernise single-handedly in an era of great power rivalry, 

The Russian threat looms larger and Donald Trump’s United States has become at best an unreliable and at times reluctant ally, as Vladimir Putin’s revanchist ambitions have exposed the need to strengthen Europe’s defences.  

But if the goal of greater autonomy is to be achieved, far better coordination of resources and cooperation between national defence industries will be required. Neither has been much in evidence this month, with France and Germany abandoning a joint £100bn project to build a new fighter jet as part of an updated Future Combat Air System. 

Originally launched by Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel in 2017, plans for the jet were pulled as a result of irresolvable disagreements between Dassault, the French aviation company involved, and Airbus, the European aerospace company whose defence unit is based in Germany, says 'The Guardian', London, in its edit.

 European diplomacy is navigating an unprecedented web of crises, most notably managing the fallout of the war in Ukraine, economic competition with the United States and China, internal institutional power struggles, and securing critical resources.  

The conflict on Europe's eastern flank and threats from Russia are forcing a push for strategic autonomy. European states are grappling with increased defense spending and internal security preparedness, including EU-wide civil stockpiling strategies.

Donald Trump holds a bilateral meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, January 21, 2026   

As US diplomats heightened the tension behind closed doors: NATO members were strongarmed to allocate 5 percent of their national GDP to core defence requirements and security.

Directly opposing the reluctant parties to the willing members ready to opt-in this new Trumpian defence vision. 

A successful operation orchestrated by the master of the Art of the Deal – resulting in a fragmented 32-member bloc questioning the alliance’s existence under its current format.

A clear sign of Trump’s US-tainted ambitions for NATO, sidelining the economic disparities rooted at the heart of the alliance.

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