The Budget Commission of the German Bundestag approved this Wednesday (December 17, 2025) a package of 50,000 million euros for military spending, the government announced, which wants to strengthen the armed forces against a possible Russian threat. This will break a record for defense spending, which will reach a total of 83 billion euros in 2025.
“We are sending a signal to the (NATO) alliance and our partners: Germany is moving forward,” said the Defense Ministry, which listed planned purchases of everything from missiles to armored vehicles. “We fulfill our obligations to the Alliance and assume our responsibility for security and peace in Europe,” the statement continued.
“It’s a new record. It’s not an end in itself, but it signals the political change,” said Defense Minister Boris Pistorius during an appearance in Berlin. As he explained, the Budget Committee had approved a total of 103 purchase projects worth 83 billion euros this year. “They are enormous investments, we are aware of that, but they are necessary,” he argued.
Various purchases
Specifically, the package worth 50 billion euros includes around thirty purchases, including projectiles and other components for various types of anti-aircraft systems such as Patriot, Arrow and IRIS-T, Puma armored vehicles and a SPOCK satellite radar system. Weapons systems and other components for Eurofighter fighters, howitzers, torpedoes for submarines as well as clothing and personal equipment will also be purchased for the total of 460,000 soldiers to whom the Bundeswehr is to be expanded in the coming years and for 80,000 civilian employees.
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Germany abandoned its long pacifist tradition and began increasing spending to reform its armed forces, which had long been underfunded. Amid growing concerns about whether the US will remain loyal to European security, German Prime Minister Friedrich Merz decided to exempt defense spending from strict debt rules, thereby accelerating the expansion of the Bundeswehr.
DZC (EFE, AFP)
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