NATO countries met in Ankara in July 2026 to talk about defence. They said they were committed to protecting each other. But there was a big problem nobody could ignore: the United States doesn't have enough weapons to give its allies what it promised.

Two wars are the reason. The US has been fighting in Ukraine and Iran, and these conflicts have used up weapons faster than American factories can make new ones. Think of it like running low on supplies during a long emergency. The US fired more than 850 Tomahawk missiles in the Iran war, and by April 2026 had used up about half its inventory of PAC-3 interceptors—the missiles that knock other missiles out of the sky—in that same conflict The Guardian. European countries need these interceptors to defend their cities and military bases. The Pentagon warned about this problem back in August 2025, saying it needed to make more weapons faster DoD.

This isn't just a number on a spreadsheet. On July 6, Russia attacked Ukraine with missiles. At least 21 people were killed. The Ukrainian president said his country couldn't shoot down about 23 incoming ballistic missiles because there weren't enough interceptors to stop them. This happened the night before NATO met The Guardian.

Here is what is happening: the US is running low on weapons because it is fighting two wars. It is also sending weapons and support to Israel. At the same time, it wants to have enough military strength in Asia to deal with China. Meanwhile, European countries are waiting. One European official, speaking privately, said it plainly: "We know that we are not customer number one." European countries understand they are last in line Reuters.

European leaders have not publicly complained to the Trump administration. They are worried that starting a big argument about weapons could make other problems worse. The US has also been pushing European countries to spend much more money on defence — 5% of their national budgets — and to buy American weapons with that money. The US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth is leading this effort Reuters.

This creates a difficult situation. European countries are being told to spend more money on American weapons while the US cannot even deliver the weapons it already promised. An American official said the US would announce billions of dollars in plans to build factories in Europe and work with European countries on manufacturing. The idea is to make weapons in Europe instead of just shipping them from America. But building new factories takes time—years, not months. And European countries want weapons now, not years from now.

There is another problem. European militaries buy lots of different kinds of weapons from many different countries. The US military buys from fewer companies and uses more of the same systems. This means European countries depend too heavily on just a few American weapons, like Patriot air defence systems and HIMARS rockets. When those run out, there are not many other options Europarl.

NATO said it would protect all its members. But actually delivering weapons is harder than saying nice things in a statement. NATO countries are spending more money on defence, but they are spending it on weapons that may not arrive on time Reuters. Meanwhile, the war in Ukraine is still happening, and people are dying because there are not enough interceptors to stop missiles.