Both nations are implementing major reforms of their armed forces by eliminating conscription and focusing on building up rapid-reaction intervention forces. Germany is also developing rapid-reaction forces and reviewing its defense policies and the possibility of a professional army. What is needed today and in the future is much less spending on manpower and much more on equipment, especially strategic lift and intelligence gathering capabilities. If this shift is not implemented, European and American forces may soon become unable to work together, or maintain the inter-operability of their forces. Indeed, despite the fact that European members of NATO collectively spend about 60 percent of what the U.S. does on defense, they have only a small fraction of the American ability to deploy troops outside the NATO area.
Some analysts estimate that their intervention capability is only a tenth of the American one.
The principal obstacle to placing a greater emphasis on high technology is that it will cost more, possibly as much as three times current defense spending levels. Moreover, there is little appetite in Europe for increased defense spending in the absence of a direct threat to its security. In addition, the fiscal requirements for European Economic and Monetary Union may affect the resources available for defense spending, depending on how the euro affects economic growth and government budgets, as a June GAO report noted. Officially, the United States is supporting these moves. Of course, it may have little choice.