BERLIN — Friedrich Merz clearly displayed its ambitions last May : make the Bundeswehr “the strongest conventional army in Europe” and undertakes to give it “all the financial resources it needs”.
Five months later, the German chancellor wants to put equipment in front of these ambitions, according to new internal government documents seen by POLITICO.
A sprawling 39-page list lays out €377 billion in desired purchases across land, air, sea, space and cyber. It provides an overview of planning for arms purchases that will be detailed in the German military’s 2026 budget, but many of these are longer-term acquisitions for which there is no clear timetable.
Overall, this is a comprehensive roadmap for Germany’s long-awaited defense modernization, relying heavily on domestic industry.
On the political level, this timing coincides with Friedrich Merz’s change in financing methods. Since the spring, Berlin has tried to exclude the defense of its constitutional brake on debtthus enabling sustained multi-year spending beyond the almost exhausted 100 billion euro special fund set up under the tenure of former chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Elements of the list will arrive subsequently, in smaller tranches, when they are sufficiently ready to be the subject of a vote by the parliamentary Budget committee – whose approval is obligatory for all contracts above 25 million euros.
Hundreds of billions
According to the documents, the Bundeswehr plans to launch around 320 new weapons and equipment projects during next year’s budget cycle. Of these projects, 178 have a listed contractor. The others remain “open”, which shows that a large part of the military modernization plan is still under study.
German companies dominate identifiable tenders with around 160 projects, worth around €182 billion, linked to domestic companies.
Rheinmetall is by far the biggest winner. The Düsseldorf-based group and the companies in which it holds stakes appear in 53 separate lines for more than 88 billion euros. In detail, around 32 billion would go directly to Rheinmetall and 56 billion to subsidiaries and joint ventures, such as KNDS for the Puma and Boxer combat vehicle programs.
The document provides for the delivery of a total of 687 Puma, including 662 combat versions and 25 driving training vehicles, by 2035.
In the area of air defense, the Bundeswehr intends to acquire 561 Skyranger 30 short-range turret systems for drone protection and short-range protection — a program entirely under the management of Rheinmetall. Millions of grenades and rifle ammunition are also planned.
Diehl Defense appears to be the second industrial pillar of the Bundeswehr after Rheinmetall. The Bavarian missile manufacturer has 21 supply lines worth a total of 17.3 billion euros.
The largest share goes to the IRIS-T family, which is expected to form the backbone of Germany’s future air defense architecture. According to the document, the Bundeswehr plans to purchase 14 complete IRIS-T SLM systems worth 3.18 billion euros, 396 IRIS-T SLM missiles for around 694 million and 300 short-range IRIS-T LFK missiles for 300 million. This entire expenditure item amounts to around 4.2 billion euros, making IRIS-T one of the most important air defense programs in the Bundeswehr’s planning.
Drones are also gaining ground on the military wish list.
The Bundeswehr wishes to expand its fleet of Heron TP armed drones, developed by the Israeli company IAI, and to purchase around 100 million euros worth of new munitions; as well as around ten new LUNA NG tactical drones for an amount of around 1.6 billion euros. For the navy, four uMAWS maritime drones are included in the plan for an estimated amount of 675 million, which will include spare parts, training and maintenance.
Many of the Bundeswehr’s most expensive new projects are not on land, sea or air, but in orbit. The list includes more than €14 billion worth of satellite programs, including new handlers, modernized ground control stations and, most ambitiously, a €9.5 billion constellation of low-Earth orbit satellites to ensure constant, jam-resistant connectivity for troops and command posts.
This initiative is in line with 35 billion euro plan by Defense Minister Boris Pistorius aimed at strengthening Germany’s “space security”.
Half of purchases ordered from German manufacturers
One of the most controversial projects on the Bundeswehr’s list is the potential acquisition of 15 F-35 aircraft from Lockheed Martincosting around 2.5 billion euros within the framework of the American system of foreign military sales (Foreign Military Sales).
This would allow Germany to maintain its role of “nuclear sharing” (the country takes part in programs for the use of nuclear weapons while not having them), but also its dependence on the United States in terms of maintenance, software and access to mission data. It could also be a sign that it is turning more towards American weapons that it cannot replace, at a time when political tensions worsen over the Franco-German-Spanish sixth generation fighter jetthe Future Combat Air System.
This American setting appears in other prominent projects.
The Bundeswehr plans to purchase 400 Tomahawk Block Vb cruise missiles for around 1.15 billion euros, as well as three Typhoon launchers from Lockheed Martin worth 220 million — this equipment would provide Germany with a strike range of 2,000 kilometers.
The navy’s provisional plan for maritime patrol aircraft, worth 1.8 billion euros for four Boeing P-8A Poseidon, also falls within the framework of foreign military sales.
These three pieces of equipment link Berlin’s future strike and surveillance capabilities to the control of exports and support from the United States.
In total, around 25 foreign-related projects worth approximately 14 billion euros clearly appear in the internal planning of the Bundeswehr, or less than 5 percent of the total requested expenditure of 377 billion euros.
Yet they represent almost all of Germany’s strategic, nuclear and long-range capabilities, ranging from nuclear-certified aircraft to deep strike and maritime surveillance systems.
On the other hand, almost half of the list comes from German industry and concerns armored vehicles, sensors and munitions. Financially, national companies dominate; Politically, however, the few foreign systems define the country’s most sensitive military roles.
This article was first published by POLITICO in English, then edited in French by Jean-Christophe Catalon.
Disclaimer: This news article has been republished exactly as it appeared on its original source, without any modification. We do not take any responsibility for its content, which remains solely the responsibility of the original publisher.
Author: Chris Lunday
Published on: 2025-10-28 01:02:00
Source: www.politico.eu
