00:00How does Europe's defense spending shape up as Trump pressures allies?
00:10Europe is far from ready to defend itself, at least not by 2030,
00:14primarily due to its dependence on foreign production and technology.
00:19This is the warning issued by a report produced by Bruegel and the Kiel Institute.
00:24Currently, Europe imports a substantial amount of weapons.
00:27Imports have increased from approximately US$3.4 billion for the period between 2019 and 2021
00:35to US$8.5 billion between 2022 and 2024 in EU countries.
00:42The US is the main trading partner for military equipment both for the EU
00:47and the main European countries except for France.
00:50However, the average delivery time of defense equipment manufactured in European countries
00:56like Germany, the UK and Poland can reach four years.
01:00Europe also lacks some top military technologies with development timelines often stretching into decades
01:07rather than just a few years.
01:09Although there are emerging European startups focused on drone manufacturing,
01:13the technology is evolving rapidly so drones older than six months
01:17may already see a significant decline in their effectiveness.
01:22Meanwhile, both Russia and China have substantially advanced their production capacities
01:27as well as technological capabilities.
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