[PDF] The 2026 National Defense Strategy of the United States

BRIEFING EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service Author: Sebastian Clapp with Darius Engel Members' Research Service PE 785.720 – April 2026 EN The United States' 2026 National Defence Strategy SUMMARY The United States' 2026 National Defense Strategy (NDS) continues the foreign-policy reorientation set out in the 2025 National Security Strategy (NSS). It frames the United States (US) as confronting intensified threats at home and abroad and sets four lines of effort: defending the homeland, deterring China in the Indo-Pacific, increasing allied burden-sharing, and 'supercharging' the United States' defence industrial base. Russia is portrayed as a persistent yet 'manageable' threat, mostly to NATO's eastern members, and the strategy argues that European allies should assume primary responsibility for their conventional defence with 'critical but more limited' US support. It presents this approach as 'flexible realism', and a deliberate shift away from earlier US strategy. The NDS has prompted divergent expert opinions. While some argue that it introduces more focused prioritisation and seeks to prevent 'strategic overstretch', others warn that its approach to alliances could actually increase strategic risks. Other concerns include the lack of clarity on implementation, the emphasis on burden-sharing without specifying consequences for shortfalls, and the possibility that a stronger focus on the Western Hemisphere could detract from preparing for major conflict contingencies relevant to allies and partners. The European Parliament views the evolving US posture as reinforcing the need for Europe to assume greater responsibility for its own security. This includes taking concrete steps to build a stronger and more credible European pillar within NATO. It reaffirms NATO's central role in collective defence, and calls for deeper EU-NATO cooperation, enhanced European capabilities, and contingency planning in case of a reduced US military presence in Europe. IN THIS BRIEFING • Introduction • Context and narrative of the strategy • Homeland-first posture and focus on the Western Hemisphere • Deterring China • How Washington views Europe and Russia • Burden-sharing beyond Europe • The US Defense Industrial Base • European Parliament position EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service 2 Introduction Published in January 2026, the United States'(US) National Defense Strategy (NDS) marks a decisive recalibration of 'the country's long-term strategic priorities. Building on the reorientation set out in the 2025 National Security Strategy (NSS), it advances a homeland-first posture, emphasises the importance of deterring China in the Indo-Pacific, and reframes alliance management with a focus on stricter burden-sharing and conditional support. The strategy portrays the United States as confronting intensifying threats both at home and abroad, ranging from border insecurity and cartellinked violence in the Western Hemispher