In this article, we take a look at the 20 strongest militaries in Europe. For more on this, go to the 5 Strongest Militaries in Europe. 

The EU’s military spending stood at a paltry 1.3% in 2014. The increased spending in the following years was motivated by two factors: The Russian takeover of Crimea and the then US President Trump’s demands from EU countries to contribute more to NATO. The EU’s military spending consistently increased over the following years, and aggregated at 32% in real terms in 2021. 

In the wake of the full-scale Russian military assault on Ukraine that began in 2022, the military spending in Europe is only expected to pick up pace. Many European countries are also aggressively arming Ukraine in order to aid its military resistance against Russia. 

Germany is highly important in this respect. The country is heavily industrialized, and its defense industry is crucial to re-arming Europe. A military fund worth more than $100 billion that was announced in February of last year in reaction to the Ukrainian invasion was approved by the German lower house parliament in June of 2022. The fund is intended to supplement Germany’s normal defense budget over the following few years in order to aid in the military’s reconstruction.

Germany would become the third-largest military spender behind the US and China since the fund should allow it to reach NATO’s 2% defense spending target, given its GDP size.

European and even some US defense companies are already poised to reap great benefits from the ongoing arms procurement. According to reports, the German Rheinmetall AG plans to increase tank output from 40,000 to 240,000 units annually. 

Germany, France, Spain, and Italy also signed contracts for the Eurodrone initiative in 2022, in an effort to lessen Europe’s reliance on Israeli drones. OCCAR granted these contracts to the French company; Airbus SE. In this regard, General Electric Company (NYSE:GE)-owned Avivo Aero was selected by Airbus SE to design and produce the drone’s engine. 

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Other US defense companies, such as Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT), are also expanding European defense capabilities, in addition to General Electric Company…