Top US military officer General Martin Dempsey has voiced concerns about the euro's future, saying Europe's financial turmoil could have consequences for the US military.
Addressing an event hosted by Washington-based think tank, the Atlantic Council, chairman of the US military's Joint Chiefs of Staff said he believed the “euro zone was at great risk” and that the US military could be affected by the euro zone's troubles, Reuters reported.
"We are extraordinarily concerned by the health and viability of the euro because in some ways we're exposed literally to contracts but also because of the potential of civil unrest and breakup of the union that has been forged over there," Dempsey said.
He said part of his concern was that the US military could be exposed to any unraveling of the euro zone. "I mean (exposed) literally, through contracts and programmatics, but also because of the potential for civil unrest and the breakup of the union that has been forged over there," he said.
The top American military official specifically referred to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Pentagon's costliest weapons program that the US is jointly developing with Britain and Italy.
He said the euro crisis could change US partners' decision on their spending earmarked for the F-35.
"It will clearly put them at risk if all the economic predictions about a potential collapse were to occur - inflation, devaluation," Dempsey said.
The US military has more than 80,000 troops in Europe and more than 20,000 civilian employees......read on
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