Germany will buy 35 American F-35 fighter jets as part of the overhauling of its armed forces, the American embassy in Berlin announced on Wednesday.
“The Bundeswehr’s (German military’s) Federal Office for Equipment and Information Technology has signed a contract with the US Air Force for the purchase of 35 F-35A Lightning II fighter jets, to be delivered between 2026-29,” the embassy said in its announcement.
Berlin had announced last March that it would buy 35 Lockheed Martin aircraft as well as 15 Eurofighters to replace its aging Tornado fighters. But in early December, Germany’s defence ministry caused some doubt about the plan talking about the potential “additional costs” of the F-35s in a classified email to parliament’s Budget Committee. The Bundestag, the lower house, finally today gave the “green light” for the purchase to proceed.
The Bundestag also approved other plans, such as the purchase of assault rifles to be financed by the 100 billion euro special fund set up after the Russian invasion of Ukraine to modernise the German military.
Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht called the decisions “very important”, a sign that parliament supports the Bundeswehr.
“The German F-35 programme ensures the continued pursuit of Germany’s commitments to NATO” and the Alliance’s “credible deterrence capability” in the future, the US embassy hailed.
The issue of replacing the aging Tornado fleet, which dates back to the 1980s and 90s, has been a matter of debate in Germany’s political world for years. The country currently has 93 such aircraft, some of which are now in poor condition.
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