Germany signs €10bln deal with US to purchase 35 F-35 jets

• 

Germany's Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said on Wednesday that the Bundestag greenlighted the decision to purchase F-35 fighter jets manufactured by Lockheed Martin (LMT.N), a move that comes amid a recent statement issued by EU policy chief Josep Borrell with regards to the depletion of arms and weapons stockpiles that has swept across the entire bloc. 

According to the Minister, the Parliament approved the purchase of the F-35 jets, as well as encrypted digital radios and assault rifles.

The decision was announced in earlier March but was officially approved by the Parliament today.

The German Federal Ministry of Defense has signed today the Letter of Offer and Acceptance to join the F-35 program. As the cornerstone of NATO interoperability, the F-35 will strengthen Germany’s operational capability with allies. https://t.co/qMkfkRQ8By pic.twitter.com/MBIYWEcQCX

— Lockheed Martin Europe (@LMEuropeNews) December 14, 2022

This is the first agreement Germany carries out in the framework of the 100 billion euro ($106 billion) special fund that Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced days after Russia initiated its special operation in Ukraine in February.

According to the Minister, the fund is intended to redress Germany's military's weapons and equipment backup to standard levels after decades of neglect since the end of the Cold War.

She further said the 100-billion-euro special fund was not sufficient to close the gaps that widened over the years due to neglected procurement. 

The Bundestag plans to purchase a total of 35 F-35 stealth fighter jets, along with missiles and other weapons and equipment.

The first batch of aircraft is expected to be ready for delivery by 2026 and will be replacing the Tornado fleet, the only German jets capable of carrying US nuclear bombs and are stored in Germany only to be used in combat situations. 

Berlin is planning to phase the jet out between 2025 and 2030, once it receives the totality of its 35 jets. 

The move has highly upset France as it is seen as a blow to the plan of developing a joint Franco-German fighter jet to be ready in the 2040s.

Germany has decided to purchase F-35 fighter jets from the US, to continue performing the nuclear sharing mission in the future. The goal is to replace the current Tornado jets by 2030.

The purchase of F-35s is yet another sign of US-German partnership in this challenging time. https://t.co/bC0GK8KV1q pic.twitter.com/t37wPIP39U

— Emily Haber (@GermanAmbUSA) March 14, 2022

On December 8, Borrell said before a meeting of the EDA (European Defense Agency) that the war in Ukraine has depleted the EU's weapon stockpiles, showing that it lacks "critical" capabilities to protect against threats on its border. 

"This war against Ukraine has been a brutal wake-up for many of us," Josep Borrell told a defense conference in Brussels. "We realize that our military stockpiles have been quickly depleted due to years of under-investment." 

On Sunday,  EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement that the bloc had run out of military stockpiles as it provided Ukraine with an overwhelming amount of military support. 

"This war has [...] been a wake-up call for all of us about our military capabilities. We have given weapons to Ukraine, but in so doing, we realized that our military stockpiles have been depleted. With conventional war returning to the heart of Europe, we also realized that we are lacking critical defense capabilities, to be able to protect ourselves from a higher level of threats on the European continent itself," he said in a statement.  

Read more: French politician on supplying weapons to Kiev: 'Total madness'