Germany plans €377 billion military spending spree

According to a leaked shopping list, the German army is preparing to spend 377 billion euros on military equipment, including cruise missiles capable of reaching Moscow.

Exempt from constitutional limits on public borrowing, the country’s defense budget is rapidly increasing and is expected to reach 3.5% of national GDP by 2029, or about 152 billion euros annually.

These expenditures have led to intense lobbying, with German manufacturers competing against foreign rivals, larger and more established “big companies” competing with smaller, technology-focused startups, and different branches of the military vying for priority.

According to the procurement planning document, first reported in POLITICO, winners and losers are already beginning to emerge, although the proposals must receive approval from the Bundestag budget committee before they become orders.

The most notable item is the proposal to purchase 400 Tomahawk Block VB cruise missiles and three Typhon launchers from the US.

The missiles have a maximum range of over a thousand miles, which is sufficient to reach Russia’s western interior from eastern Germany.

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius spent months trying to get permission from the Pentagon to import these missiles.

Air defense is a clear priority, with plans to purchase 561 new Skyranger 30 armored vehicle-mounted drone-hunter cannons from the country’s largest arms manufacturer, Rheinmetall.

Rheinmetall will be the biggest beneficiary of the procurement program, with total sales of about 88 billion euros.

Berlin also proposes to invest 4.2 billion euros in 14 German-made Iris-T SLM air defense batteries and about 700 associated interceptor missiles. The medium-range system, capable of hitting targets 25 miles away, is considered to have performed well in Ukraine.

One battery of this system recently claimed to have shot down eight Russian cruise missiles in 30 seconds. Some sources suggest the system can even hit ballistic missiles.

Another 14 billion euros has been allocated for satellites and other space technologies, an area where NATO members in Europe have realized their dependence on the US.

About 9.5 billion euros of this money will be spent on a low-Earth orbit constellation that will theoretically provide uninterrupted communication to soldiers on the ground.