this post was submitted on 10 Dec 2025
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Russia's bribing this JACKASS seems to have finally paid off for the Soviets.

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[–] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 32 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (28 children)

The idea that Europe is weak is hilarious. Russia invading Ukraine has caused a general rearmament in Europe, this in itself wouldn't make Europe strong but in general European militaries have been proactive about evolving their military technology and doctrine in mostly rational ways and as a result Europe is now a dense fabric of extremely advanced militaries informed by experience from the Ukraine war.

Since WW2 Europe has never been more militarily powerful compared to the US and Russia than it is now. See the rapid development and scaling up of Bohdana 155mm howitzers to 40+ systems a month as one intimidating example.

...which of course is exactly why Trump is insisting Europe is weak lol

Note, I am not arguing the US should cut aid to Ukraine.

[–] misspelledusernme@piefed.social 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (21 children)

I'd like to learn more about the progress on the rearmament of Europe. Do you have any long form resources I could read?

I only hear bits and pieces about the slow progress. I remember hearing the goal that the EU would produce X amounts of ammunition per year. Did that happen? I also recently heard about Ukraine opening a factory in Denmark. That seems good, but still not the broad rearmament I've been wanting to see.

Are there good overviews, with some stats and maybe some nice looking graphics? I realize a lot is secret, but still.

Edit: I decided not to be a lazy bum and did my own googling. I found this testimony about the "Danish Model" by a member of CSIS. I learnt that Ukraine has capacity to produce $35B of military equipment per year, but only $6B to spend. Other countries are purchasing another $10B worth of military equipment per year from Ukrainian producers. This is the Danish model.

[–] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

Unfortunately at least on the english speaking internet the overall quality of resources for this has plummeted. To be frank, I think a lot of this has to do with the necessary dumbing down that has been applied to the media over conversations about war ever since 9/11 sent authoritarianism in the US into overdrive and reduced justifications for military strikes into cartoonish cynical jokes, this process has reached an absolute peak in utterly denying the Palestinian Genocide and pretending it is a war and as a result discussion in english speaking media about ALL wars and conflicts right now has been reduced to baby like parroting of whatever the military and politicians say with no journalistic critique of the narrative being presented from a perspective of known established realities about war. "tanks are obsolete!" "helicopters are obsolete!!" "artillery is obsolete!" ..... it is honestly exhausting.

That coupled with enshittification makes this a very difficult time to find good information even as in many ways paradoxically there has never been better access to information.

That rant aside, this article is a good place to start

https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2025/04/28/european-drone-training-sites-mushroom-in-nod-to-ukraine-war-tactics/

In general I would pay attention to defense news websites and also note the general structure of joint european military exercises, they typically display the cohesive intention behind what can feel like meaningless unrelated details of arms procurement.

In a way I think the best way to put a picture together for yourself is to think of an abstracted idea of an armored brigade combat team with supporting drone, air and naval assets.


Armored Battalion (×2)

    Headquarters and Headquarters Company
    Tank Company (×2)
    Mechanized Infantry Company

Mechanized Infantry Battalion (×1)

    Headquarters and Headquarters Company
    Tank Company
    Mechanized Infantry Company (×2)

Cavalry Squadron (×1)

    Headquarters and Headquarters Troop
    Tank Troop (×2)
    Cavalry Troop (x2)

Field artillery (fires) battalion

    Headquarters and headquarters battery
        Target acquisition platoon
    M109 155 mm self propelled howitzer battery (×2)

Brigade engineer battalion

    Headquarters and headquarters company
    Combat engineer company
    Engineer support company
    Signal company
    Military intelligence company

Brigade Support Battalion

    Headquarters and Headquarters Company
    Distribution Company
    Field Maintenance Company
    Medical Company
        Headquarters Platoon
        Treatment Platoon
        Medical Evacuation Platoon
    Forward Support Company (Cavalry)
    Forward Support Company (Combined Arms) (×3)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigade_combat_team

Consider all the primary equipment needed for a wholistic "unit" of an equivalent fighting force along with drones, aircraft and navy if applicable. Don't forget bridgelayers and logistics! In general, considering the largest militaries in Europe such as the German military then ask the basic question what is the state of that countries equipment for those major roles? What is the state of Germany's Infantry Fighting Vehicle and Main Battle Tanks?

That is relatively easy to google and get good information on, it is easy to establish for example that the Lynx and Leopards are extremely advanced fighting vehicles that have undergone many series of modernizations. You can compare this to the UK whose Ajax IFV vehicles are so broken that they vibrate too violently for the soldiers inside to not be injured by it. From this perspective of evaluating the state of equipment programs things are much more accessible.

Poland and Germany are two easy to point to European nations that have massively increased the power of their military. Poland alone with its orders of K2 and Abrams tanks, piles and piles of AH-64 helicopters and plenty of ground based missile and tube artillery now represents an extremely intimidating military power. I suppose it might not all be deployable tomorrow, but the longterm trajectory is definitely not a slow, limping subdued reaction. Both HIMARS type rocket artillery and traditional cannon artillery are crucial types of equipment to consider as well and Europe has thoroughly rearmed itself with both and will continue to do so into the indefinite future I imagine.

Lastly consider fighter aircraft programs as they are a strategic asset, here is easiest you can find lots of news about the increase of fighter aircraft production and modernization in European militaries. The fact that Canada would even consider purchasing European fighter aircraft instead of US equivalents even as it is neighbors of the US, yes even given the political situation right now, says a lot in itself. I also think the ability of France to donate Mirage 2000-5F aircraft to Ukraine reveals a depth and breadth to Europe's sophisticated fighter-bomber aircraft stock demonstrating a serious increase in strength. Military airlift is the other big aviation asset (especially considering the future dominant role of Rapid Dragon type systems) that people always overlook and there again Europe is in a stronger position than ever with the Airbus A400M.

Thank you for that long write-up! I'm glad to see more progress. I'll keep an eye on defense news

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