Berlin’s big defence spurge includes 20 Eurofighter jets, armoured vehicles, and drones

Eurofighter jets are being used to deter Russian incursions over small Baltic States such as Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Photo / Getty Images

Germany is preparing more than 60 military procurement orders for parliamentary approval by the end of this year.

They include the purchase of 20 Eurofighter jets, as many as 5000 Boxer armoured vehicles and at least 3500 Patria Oyj armoured vehicles, according to people familiar with the matter.

Defence Minister Boris Pistorius briefed lawmakers on Tuesday about the Government’s priorities to turn Germany’s Bundeswehr armed forces into Europe’s strongest conventional army, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions are confidential.

The German Cabinet was set to approve its medium-term financial planning today that will see its annual defence budget more than double to as much as €162 billion ($313b) within four years.

That annual tally should be achieved by 2029, well ahead of the Nato alliance’s target for military outlays to reach 3.5% of gross domestic product by 2035.

The military procurement push was made possible after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s ruling coalition agreed to exempt defence spending from constitutional borrowing limits and set up a debt-financed €500b special fund to build roads, rail, power grids, and schools.

Germany’s Defence Ministry didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Germany’s defence splurge will have a strong European focus as Merz seeks to pivot military spending to regional manufacturers in a bid to make the continent more independent from United States manufacturers, the people said.

Nato countries have pledged higher defence spending in light of Russia’s war in Ukraine, as well as concern that the US may not be as committed to defending the region under President Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ doctrine.

Given Europe’s reliance on the US for most of its military communication via satellites, Germany plans to invest more than €15b into the modernisation of its military satellite infrastructure over the coming years, the people added.

Top of the military procurement list will be the purchase of 20 additional Eurofighter jets in a contract valued at as much as €3b, the people said.

The Eurofighter is made by a European consortium led by BAE Systems Plc, Airbus SE, and Italy’s Leonardo SpA.

Former Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced the intention for the fighter-jet purchase at the ILA aviation show in Berlin last year, but the order has so far failed to come together because of disagreements over spending priorities in the previous ruling coalition.

In 2020, Germany placed an order for 38 Eurofighter jets valued at €5.5b.

Berlin plans to order as many as 5000 Boxer armoured vehicles in various configurations from domestic manufacturers KNDS and Rheinmetall as well as at least 3500 Patria armoured modular vehicles from the Finnish defence manufacturer of the same name.

The Boxers’ chassis will be manufactured into different kind of vehicles with various functions, including as many as 600 Skyranger air-defence systems, as well as other modifications such as fighting, reconnaissance and medical transport, the people said.

The Patria vehicle will replace the Army’s ageing fleet of Fuchs armoured fighting vehicles, the people said. The Helsinki-based manufacturer is partnering with KNDS and Flensburger Fahrzeugbau Gesellschaft to build the Patria AMV, and the order could be worth as much as €5b, the sources say. Roughly 90% of the production is expected to happen in Germany.

In addition to the armoured vehicles, the Defence Ministry is exploring the purchase of several hundred Leopard 2 battle tanks from KNDS and Rheinmetall, the people added.

The ministry is also working on a drone strategy which will lead to various orders worth several billion euros from German manufacturers like Helsing or Quantum Systems, the people said.

One of the biggest challenges for Berlin in coming years will be to put its expanded military budget to work amid acute production bottlenecks in the defence industry, long waiting lists for new military gear and repeated delays for big-ticket procurement orders such as the F-126 frigate, which has been held back by production setbacks.