Bloomberg: Germany set to approve record €52 billion in defence orders

German lawmakers are poised to approve 29 military procurement contracts next week totalling a record €52 billion ($61 billion), advancing the government’s plan to make the Bundeswehr Europe’s strongest conventional army.

The contracts span a wide array of equipment and services, including €22 billion for basic military gear and uniforms, €4.2 billion for Puma infantry fighting vehicles, €3 billion for Arrow 3 air-defence interceptor missiles and launchers, and €1.6 billion for surveillance satellites, Bloomberg reports, citing sources familiar with the plans.

This session will set records for both the number of high-value orders and the total contract value approved by the Bundestag budget committee in a single closed-door meeting, the sources said, requesting anonymity ahead of the official announcement.

Defence ministry officials in Berlin did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside of regular business hours.

Germany has undergone a sharp strategic shift since 2022, when the full-scale invasion of Ukraine caused the Bundeswehr — the German Armed Forces — to be re-prioritised. Before that, defence spending often lagged below expectations.

In response, Germany’s government created a €100 billion “special fund” (Sondervermögen) in 2022 to finance a major rearmament and modernisation effort — a fund outside the usual budget constraints.

In 2025, Germany formally reformed its fiscal rules: the longstanding “debt brake” limitation on borrowing was relaxed for defence and security spending above 1% of GDP, and a new large-scale fund for infrastructure and related investments was approved.

As a result, Germany aims to significantly raise defence outlays over the next years, with plans to spend roughly 3.5% of GDP on defence by 2029, a steep upward climb from its pre‑2022 levels.

This transformation is intended to turn Germany into Europe’s strongest conventional military force — a strategic re‑orientation away from decades of relative restraint and toward robust military capacity.

By Jeyhun Aghazada