Hasty US exit from Europe could drive allies away from American arms, RAND says

A rapid, uncoordinated U.S. military drawdown from Europe could push key NATO allies further away from American weapons over the long term, according to a new RAND study , a shift the authors say would hurt the U.S. defense industrial base. RAND released the report, “Anticipating Allies’ Responses to U.S. Retrenchment from Europe,” on Wednesday. It examines how France, Germany, Poland and the U.K. would likely respond to different versions of what RAND calls limited retrenchment: cuts to American commitments and forces in Europe that stop short of leaving NATO altogether. The study draws on…