Status: 12/14/2022 5:49 p.m
The purchase of 35 state-of-the-art F-35 fighter jets is one of the Bundeswehr’s largest procurement projects and has now been approved by the Budget Committee. Cost point: almost ten billion euros. But there was also approval for other armaments projects.
The Bundestag has cleared the way for the purchase of the US fighter jet F-35. The budget committee approved the plan to procure 35 of the state-of-the-art combat aircraft for an amount of almost ten billion euros.
The purchase of F-35 stealth jets in the USA is one of the Bundeswehr’s largest procurement projects. The F-35 machine from the US manufacturer Lockheed Martin is considered the most modern combat aircraft in the world. In doing so, Germany also wants to ensure a key NATO alliance obligation: nuclear sharing. It is about a deterrence concept of the military alliance in which allies have access to US nuclear bombs and transport them in an emergency.
This task has so far been taken over by the Bundeswehr’s Tornados, which, however, will have to be phased out in the coming years for reasons of age.
“A very important sign”
Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) called the decisions on armaments projects worth a total of 13 billion euros a “very important sign” that parliament stands behind the Bundeswehr. After criticism from the traffic light coalition, she conceded that the Bundeswehr was not fast enough in procurement. However, only nine months passed between the government’s decision to purchase the F-35 aircraft and the release of the funds. This is “a remarkable time” for an armaments project.
At a joint press conference, the Inspector General of the German Armed Forces, Eberhard Zorn, spoke of the “starting point” for the implementation of the projects from the special fund decided after the Russian attack on Ukraine.
The inspector of the Air Force, Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz, emphasized at the press conference that the first German pilots should be trained on fighter jets in the USA in 2026. The first aircraft would then be relocated to Germany in 2027 with the aim of declaring the first operational readiness in 2028.
In the past week, information from the Ministry of Defense about possible risks and cost increases in the project had caused irritation among MPs. This concerned, for example, the necessary conversion of airfields for the F-35, the US seller’s high security requirements and possible technical problems with the approval of the fighter jets for flight operations.
“Top Priority” F35 Fighter Procurement
The Budget Committee has therefore now passed a so-called stipulation, according to which the procurement of the Tornado successor has “top priority”. It points out that the Ministry of Defense has now qualified its earlier statements. Accordingly, the probability of occurrence of the risks mentioned is “low”.
“Implementation of the procurement of the aircraft of the type F-35A in the schedule and budget is of great importance for the operational readiness of the Bundeswehr and must therefore be adhered to,” the parliamentary committee demanded. “The ministry is called upon to ensure timely approval of the F-35A for German airspace.”
Successor to the G36 assault rifle
Parliament also approved other projects financed from the 100 billion euro special fund for the Bundeswehr, including the purchase of new assault rifles as a successor to the G-36. It is to be replaced by a total of 118,000 Heckler & Koch HK416 rifles.
In addition, the financing of new military radio transmission systems, the retrofitting of the Puma infantry fighting vehicle and new over-snow vehicles were approved.
The budget committee must approve Bundeswehr procurements that exceed 25 million euros. A total of eight so-called 25 million proposals have now been approved. The Defense Committee was also concerned with the templates.
Greenpeace criticism
Greenpeace protested the decision to buy the stealth jets. “The government wants to waste tens of billions of taxpayers’ money just to be able to start using nuclear weapons from German soil in an emergency. Germany is thus participating in the fatal nuclear armament spiral,” criticized the organization.