Vyacheslav Filippov — about why Germany is unhappy with the purchase of military aircraft in the United States German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced on February 27 that the country's authorities would create a special fund totaling €100 billion, which would be used for investments and projects in the field of weapons, including purchases for the Bundeswehr.
Funds from this fund will be used, for example, to purchase 35 multifunctional F-35 fighter-bombers manufactured by the American company Lockheed Martin.
According to the plans of the German government, these aircraft will replace the Tornado multifunctional fighter-bombers in service with the Bundeswehr, whose service life expires in 2025. The main purpose of the F-35 is to ensure Germany's contribution to NATO's nuclear deterrence efforts.
According to the third provision of the Final Settlement Agreement with respect to Germany, which entered into force on March 15, 1991, Germany refused to produce, possess and dispose of atomic, biological and chemical weapons. By the end of June 1991, the USSR had withdrawn all military nuclear components from the territory of the former GDR. However, US nuclear weapons continue to remain on the territory of the country within the framework of NATO's strategic concept of intimidating potential adversaries. Up to 20 American nuclear warheads, according to unconfirmed reports, are located at an air base near Buchel.
In 2020, as the German media wrote, the United States upgraded the type B61 nuclear warheads located in Germany. Since then, they can only be carried by US-certified combat aircraft, which are the F-35. The place of their deployment, respectively, will probably be an air base in Byuchel.
The F-35 is considered the most modern combat aircraft in the world. Due to the special shape and external coating, the aircraft is difficult to detect by enemy radars. The flight range is about 2.2 thousand km.
Significant risks
According to Der Spiegel magazine, the purchase of the F-35 will cost Germany almost € 10 billion. The publication refers to a confidential document prepared by the Ministry of Finance for the Bundestag Budget Committee.
At the same time, Scholz seeks to have time to conclude a contract for the supply of F-35 this year: the signing of all documents under the deal and their sending back to the Americans is scheduled for December 2022. The Chancellor decided to buy American fighter jets almost immediately after taking office. Before that, there had been endless discussions in Germany about which aircraft the Bundeswehr should receive. A joint proposal from the Airbus aircraft concern and the Eurofighter GmbH consortium to replace Tornado with Eurofighter multi-purpose fighters was discussed, and the option of purchasing Boeing F/A-18 fighter-bombers was also considered. Scholz decided in favor of the F-35, in particular, because many other European NATO allies had already stopped their choice on the same planes.
I would like to note that if the deal is completed, it will be the first major procurement project to re-equip the German Air Force since the beginning of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine and the most expensive of those that are planned to be financed from the newly created special fund. Moreover, € 10 billion is not the final amount that the German government will have to pay for new aircraft. The document, which came to the disposal of Der Spiegel and contains the note "for official use only," states that the named cost is based on "conservative forecasts and conclusions of the US government" and "is clearly subject to adjustment."
The problem is, experts say, that in order to accommodate the new American fighters of the German Ministry of Defense, the airbase in Buchel will have to be largely modernized by 2026. In this regard, "delays and the need for additional financial resources" are not excluded. Only about € 500 million will need to be invested in the reconstruction of the airbase, and whether the authorities will have time to complete its modernization by 2026 is still unknown, Der Spiegel clarifies.
Also, "there is a risk that the timely issuance of a national flight permit [F-35] will not be possible due to the lack of appropriate documentation or it will not be possible due to legal regulations." Further more. The F-35A model currently does not meet all the requirements regarding air navigation equipment and "most likely will not meet them in the foreseeable future," and therefore "flight operations can only begin to a limited extent," the Ministry of Finance document says.
A cat in a bag?
The German opposition, and many representatives of the ruling parties, are now at a loss, if not shocked, in the light of the information provided. This plane, in fact, is "an offensive weapon that does not serve the purposes of the country's defense," said Gesine Letsch, a member of the Left Party faction in the Bundestag.
"It is unacceptable that the parliament is only now learning about the problems. I expect the [Defense] Ministry to provide a comprehensive explanation of how it intends to take control of the risks. Now there is an attempt to evade responsibility," Andreas Schwartz, a deputy from the faction of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), chief rapporteur on the military budget, told the publication.
The opposition bloc of the Christian Democratic and Christian Social Unions (CDU/CSU) reacted even more sharply.
"My advice to the Chancellor: change the Minister [of Defense Christine Lambrecht] before it's too late," Khan urged.
According to Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH, today the Bundestag Budget Committee held a special meeting on the procurement of the F-35, where Lambrecht heard. As a representative of the Ministry of Defense later noted at a briefing, there is no crisis related to the purchase of the F-35. "Now there are no problems with planning, including those related to the preparation of infrastructure," he noted and added that the implementation of the project is "on a good path."
Have you forgotten about your own defense industry?
Lambrecht is negotiating the purchase of the F-35 directly with the White House. While countries such as Italy or Switzerland insisted from the very beginning on the participation of national defense companies in the negotiation process, the German government excluded its own concerns from it. The latter are now afraid that they will be left without valuable contracts, for example, for the production of spare parts, maintenance and repair of aircraft.
According to Focus Online, the German Aerospace Industry Association (BDLI) accused the German Cabinet of Ministers of not taking into account the interests of its own industry when discussing the deal. A member of the BDLI presidium, Martin Krel, called on Berlin "not to provide everything to friends from the USA" and to involve its own companies at least in repairing aircraft and maintaining them in proper technical condition. Otherwise, according to him, the strategic consequences for the German economy will be huge.
Wolfgang Schoder, a member of the BDLI and the head of Airbus Helicopters Deutschland, called for the mandatory possibility of German firms' participation in the repair of winged vehicles to be prescribed in contracts with the Americans.
It is possible that the German government assumed that the participation of representatives of its own industry would complicate and slow down the negotiation process with the United States. In response to criticism, the Cabinet of Ministers hastened to reassure and pointed out that Lockheed Martin plans to organize an "Industry Day" in early 2023 in order to inform German firms about the possibilities of participating in the F-35 program.
In the response of the Ministry of Defense to the request of the CDU/CSU faction in the Bundestag, it is noted that, despite the purchase of American fighters, Berlin still intends to adhere to the goal of providing 35% of the Bundeswehr's needs at the expense of European manufacturers in the future. The document lists projects such as the creation of a Eurodron, a maritime patrol aircraft (MAWS) and a new European combat aircraft (FCAS). According to the economic magazine WirtschaftsWoche, the German government believes that German defense concerns in recent years have proved their unreliability in the production of large combat systems. "We must finally move forward, and then they will get their chance," the publication quotes the words of a high—ranking representative of the Cabinet of Ministers.
At the same time, if the F-35 procurement project fails, it will be Scholz's personal defeat. In this case, obviously, the first victim will be Lambrecht, who has recently been sharply criticized for being slow in supplying weapons to Kiev and the logistical condition of the Bundeswehr. Recently it became known that the warehouses of the German army are so empty that there should be enough ammunition for only 30 days in case of hostilities.
About the German defense industry
Germany is considered one of the largest arms exporters in the world. Numerous crises and conflicts can be said to play into the hands of its companies — manufacturers of weapons, military equipment and electronics.
Among the most famous German concerns in this area is Rheinmetall, which is engaged in the production of military equipment, artillery, ammunition and other combat components (trade turnover in 2021 amounted to €5.7 billion). Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW), headquartered in Munich, produces armored cars and battle tanks, artillery systems, such as Panzerhaubitze 2000 howitzers supplied to Ukraine (trade turnover is more than €1.5 billion). The defense division of the world—famous ThyssenKrupp steel company, ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, specializes in the construction of submarines, frigates and corvettes (the company's trade turnover amounted to more than €2 billion last year).
Among the smaller companies, Heckler is well-known & Koch, which produces submachine guns and pistols; Diehl and MBDA, engaged in the manufacture of guided missiles; Jenoptik from Jena, which produces various, including optical, devices used in combat systems. Many people forget that such concerns as Siemens, MAN, in addition to civilian goods, also produce military products. This also includes the aerospace corporation with the German participation of Airbus.
