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In a scary development while Trump was in China, Hegseth pulled 4000 US troops being sent to Poland for NATO exercises--apparently on his own initiative. It seems like Trump only wants to see videos of things blowing up. Otherwise, Hegseth has been given complete discretion to run the military. At last, Republicans on the Armed Services Committees are waking up to the fact that they have created a monster and that they have no way to rein him in.
Hegseth thinks he is killing NATO, which he despises. What he is actually doing is hastening the formation of a new North Atlantic alliance without the US, which will never buy US arms again because they don't trust us to meet contract obligations. They also understand that drone warfare is the warfare of today, and the US is behind the times in terms of technology. Who in Europe would buy start-up drones from a Don Jr. and Eric involved company if you are really worried about Russian aggression? The Europeans have already locked down joint drone manufacturing facilities with Ukraine. I don't doubt that there soon will be agreements for Ukrainian-designed intermediate-range Flamingo missiles that are taking out Russian targets 1500 km from the border in regions Russia thought were safe. Russia simply can't put up air defenses around all the potential targets in that large an area. This may mark a turning point in the war as Ukraine has just shown its first a net gain in occupied territory over the previous month.
The bottom line is that Hegseth is killing the US aerospace and defense industry. As of May 2026, Poland has not yet decided on a planned purchase of an additional 32 fighter jets to further expand its air force. The country is evaluating options, including the Boeing F-15EX Eagle II, the Eurofighter Typhoon, a Korean jet, or additional F-35A aircraft. There is more context to this decision
The Europeans, joined by Canada, have created the SAFE program to become independent of the US military-industrial complex. It provides long-term, low-interest loans to buy military equipment with the following conditions:
Products purchased must contain at least 65% European components, and complex defense equipment must be produced under European design authority control to ensure intellectual property remains in EU hands. While primarily designed for EU member states, the regulation allows "like-minded" countries—including accession candidates and nations with EU security partnerships—to potentially participate through separate negotiations.
As of May 2026, eighteen member states (Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, and Finland) have expressed interest in accessing SAFE loans, with initial requests totaling approximately €127 billion. The Commission is currently reviewing various batches of national defense investment plan proposals.
Better financing through SAFE, more reliability, and interoperability with European partners, transparent antagonism from Trump and Hegseth: Which option do you think Poland will choose?
