US to Slash NATO Europe Fighter Force From 150 to 100 Jets and Pull All KC-46 Refueling Tankers

Pentagon plans to strip one-third of U.S. fighter jets from Europe, pull all eight KC-46 tankers, and slash maritime patrol aircraft — a historic NATO drawdown that would limit long-range strike power and surveillance reach.

The U.S. plans to cut its NATO Europe fighter jet force from roughly 150 to 100 and remove all eight aerial refueling tankers, the New York Times reported Friday, citing two senior European officials.

The decision would also reduce maritime patrol aircraft from 26 to 15 and redeploy a missile-launching submarine and an aircraft carrier, along with several warships and scores of jets that join the carrier’s missions. One of two groups of bombers previously assigned for Europe’s defense may also be reallocated, the Times said.

The cuts would limit NATO’s ability to launch long-range strikes and conduct surveillance, the report said.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report. NATO and the U.S. Department of Defense did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

What’s Being Cut

German newspaper Die Welt, citing a leaked document, provided a more granular breakdown of the fighter jet reductions: F-16 Fighting Falcons would fall from 99 to 63, and F-15E Strike Eagles from 54 to 36 — figures consistent with the Times’ top-line summary of roughly 150 to 100.

The tanker withdrawal centers on the KC-46 Pegasus, the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation aerial refueling aircraft. All eight KC-46s previously allocated to the alliance would be withdrawn entirely. Die Welt also reported a partial reduction in KC-135 Stratotankers, from 71 to 63.

The maritime patrol reductions target the P-8A Poseidon, the Boeing-built, long-range anti-submarine warfare and surveillance aircraft operated by the U.S. Navy. Cutting the Poseidon commitment from 26 to 15 represents a 42 percent reduction in U.S. maritime patrol coverage dedicated to NATO.

Under the plan, NATO would retain only one U.S. aircraft carrier strike group in Europe instead of two. Defense News reported in May 2026 that the U.S. no longer intends to provide any submarines to the alliance, and that the Navy is set to make fewer destroyers available to NATO.

“Rightsize” and “NATO 3.0”

The U.S. European Command said in a June 2 statement that it would “rightsize” its contributions to the NATO Force Model, without providing further details.

Air Force Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, Commander of U.S. European Command and NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, offered the first detailed public remarks on the reductions at a force-sourcing conference at SHAPE headquarters June 2–3.

“There has been an unhealthy co-dependence in the NATO Force Model on US forces,” Grynkewich said, according to a U.S. European Command statement.

Grynkewich told allies that manned and unmanned aircraft and naval vessels are areas where Canada and European allies “can step up now and in the near future.” In Senate Armed Services Committee testimony in March, he said European allies “won’t be all the way there [capable of leading their own conventional defense] by 2030, but certainly by 2035 they will be.”

The drawdown reflects a strategic realignment articulated by Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby, who unveiled the framework at NATO’s Defense Ministers’ meeting in Brussels on Feb. 11 under a concept he called “NATO 3.0.”

“The core strategic reality laid out by the NSS and NDS is this: Europe must assume primary responsibility for its own conventional defense,” Colby said.

“This ‘NATO 3.0’ requires much greater efforts by our allies to step up and assume primary responsibility for the conventional defense of Europe,” he added.

NATO’s Response

U.S. Army Col. Martin O’Donnell, a spokesman for NATO’s military headquarters, said the areas identified for reduction are ones where allies already possess or will soon acquire sufficient capabilities, and that no defense gaps are anticipated.

“Nations simply need to allocate their existing capabilities to NATO,” O’Donnell said.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte did not disclose specific details about the impending U.S. reductions at a news conference in Brussels in mid-May, but suggested that a reduction was anticipated.

Broader Drawdown

The aviation and naval cuts are part of a wider U.S. military pullback from Europe. In May 2026, the Pentagon announced plans to withdraw approximately 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany. Late in 2025, the U.S. withdrew an armored brigade combat team from Romania — the first officially announced step in the Trump administration’s planned retrenchment.

The U.S. strategic bomber commitment to NATO would also be reduced by approximately half, according to reports confirmed by Fox News, Defense News, and Stars and Stripes.

Trump’s administration has repeatedly accused European governments of underinvesting in their militaries and relying too heavily on U.S. protection, while urging both Europe and Asian allies to boost defense spending to 3.5% of gross domestic product.

Reuters reported in May 2026 that the U.S. planned to scale back the military capabilities it would make available to its alliance allies during a major crisis. The Wall Street Journal and other outlets subsequently reported that the Trump administration aimed to cut forces earmarked for NATO by one-third to one-half.

Pentagon official Alexander Velez-Green formally notified NATO allies of the “rightsizing” at a NATO Defense Policy Directors’ meeting in Brussels on May 22, 2026. American officials have suggested the changes will be implemented much sooner than European allies had anticipated, according to the New York Times.

The NATO summit in Ankara on July 7–8 is expected to serve as the deadline for European allies to formalize commitments to replace the capabilities the U.S. is vacating.