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The biggest thing will be all those nato countries who can't do anything with their US weapons if the US says so.
If only there was a country in europe that had voiced this concern in the 50s, all of that could have been avoided... Oh wait.
That is only if they want to continue to buy new weapons, not if they intend to male weapons in Europe
No. I mean the weapons they have now. F35 for example. If a war happens in Europe, will those planes be useful without US support and authorizations? US can do a lot of harm to Europe with that.
Yes let me explain my answer I didn't elaborate properly.
I think the only recourse the US has if European countries use these weapons without authorization is that the US will not sell more weapons.
And if Europe continues to intreases it's weapon and ammunition production like they have the last two years that might not be a deal breaker for Europe
I'm not sure Europe can make F35 parts for example, which will not fly for long without it, or ammunitions for various US weapons. I hope it'll be a wake up call to make and use EU instead.
Just my two cents as an assembly line guy: Parts on aircraft fall into three categories
-Big custom fuckoff parts. They're not high tech but they're huge and they're a specific shape so you need a huge, precise and very expensive mould/die/whatever to make them. Anyone with the aircraft and a decent engineer could design a machine to make these parts but they would be left with a smoking crater where their wallet was after getting the mould made.
-Easy parts. Sure, an aircraft fuel pipe is worth 20k, but the civilian parts are made to higher standards anyways, we can find one no problem.
-Secret technical complex parts. Proprietary cutting edge stuff, which is frankly just bolted onto already complete aircraft. Obviously you can't replace it if you don't even know how it works, but the US doesn't let that stuff out of their direct control very often anyways.
Don't fucking talk to me about engines though, those are a whole different beast
TLDR: We can totally keep our F35s in the air as long as the parts we're replacing aren't the skin panels, the engines, or the Secret Third Thing. And as long as we have the money.
That sword cuts both ways. The F-35 has parts from all over the US and EU. This doesn't extend to every weapon system, but if the US refuses to support F-35s, their own F-35s would lose support too.