Germany Air-Force Germany to buy several F-35s

tomthebotfly

Active member
Messages
66
Reactions
1 218
Nation of residence
Germany
Nation of origin
Italy
Germany's Defense ministry has informed the German Parliament on Monday (14/03) of its aim to purchase up to thirty-five F-35 Lightning 2 stealth multirole fighters. This comes after the announcement that the German government will bolster the country's defense spending with a new 100bl euro package. Furthermore, they also intend to procure a further 15 Eurofighter Typhoons.

1647275674830.png


This new F-35 fleet will be replacing the old Panagia Tornado fleet Germany currently holds. Germany currently owns:
- 60 Tornado IDS Variant (Strike/Fighter-Bomber)
- 24 Tornado ECR Variant (SEAD/Electronic Warfare)
- 141 Eurofighter Typhoons (Multirole Fighter) with a further 38 on order

While the F-35s stealth capabilities do perform well during wild weasel ops and SEAD, Germany aims to install ECR modules in its Eurofighter Typhoons as a replacement for the Tornado ECR Variant. Fifteen such Eurofighters have been stated to be procured. The F-35's nuclear capabilities will also be utilized, as the Typhoon cannot carry such weapons while the Tornado could.

Germany has had a weak military ever since the end of WW2, and the fall of the Berlin Wall after that. For example, in 2018 DW stated that, out of the then 128 Eurofighters in service, only 10 were mission ready and missile amounts could arm only up to 4 aircraft. Things like shortfalls in the Intelligence department, general small size of the army and uncared for Navy also contributed to this fact.

The plan to procure the F-35 deals a heavy blow to Boeing, a competitor to Lockheed-Martin, which was aiming to sell Germany it's F-18 Fighter, which was preferred over the F-35 by the previous German Defense Minister. Furthermore, France is likely to be upset by this decision as it could hurt progress in the FCAS Joint French-German-Spanish Fighter Project, which is seen as a descendant to the Eurofighter as another Airbus-produced European-made fighter. Others however believe that the increase in defense spending will lead to increased investment in the project. The FCAS Project is meant to be completed in the 2040s.

With the increase in defense spending, Germany aims to finally cross the 2% of GDP line required by NATO. As Germany has the largest GDP in Europe and has long been seen as a political and economic leader both in the European Union and abroad, could this sudden shift in policy mark the start of a new era, or do you think all of these proposals will end up being voted against in parliament?
Do you believe this commitment to NATO will help Trans-Atlantic relationships, or should Germany focus on its intra-European partners to prevent switching from dependency to Moscow to dependency to Washington?
Will this move significantly increase the combat capabilities of the Germany Armed Forces, or perhaps the Germans should have focused on improving their Army and Navy instead?
Looking forwards to hearing your thoughts.

 
Last edited:

RogerRanger

Contributor
Messages
602
Reactions
444
Nation of residence
United Kingdom
Nation of origin
United Kingdom
Well that is another 3.5 billion out of the European defence budget and directly into the American defence budget. So they will be happy. I also think this is tiny, the Germans don't have the money and they are wasting their time. It would be far me effective for the Germans to build an integrated air defence network, like what the Russians have. Rather than buying more American aircraft, which can't be used defensively.
 
M

Manomed

Guest
Well that is another 3.5 billion out of the European defence budget and directly into the American defence budget. So they will be happy. I also think this is tiny, the Germans don't have the money and they are wasting their time. It would be far me effective for the Germans to build an integrated air defence network, like what the Russians have. Rather than buying more American aircraft, which can't be used defensively.
Actually you can use your air force as air defence units. Russian air defence network is pretty bad against SEAD DEAD missions
 

Huelague

Experienced member
Messages
3,546
Reactions
4 3,799
Nation of residence
Germany
Nation of origin
Turkey
Well that is another 3.5 billion out of the European defence budget and directly into the American defence budget. So they will be happy. I also think this is tiny, the Germans don't have the money and they are wasting their time. It would be far me effective for the Germans to build an integrated air defence network, like what the Russians have. Rather than buying more American aircraft, which can't be used defensively.
You are not up to date. Germany has found an extra budget up to € 100 billion. About US fighter jets purchase. They just switched from F-18 to F-35.

You are to far against Wests and to much pro East. ;)
 

tomthebotfly

Active member
Messages
66
Reactions
1 218
Nation of residence
Germany
Nation of origin
Italy
What does it mean for FCAS?
FCAS will most likely continue, however France will most likely take leadership of the project. There's debate about what the new spending should be used for, while some prefer increased investment in FCAS, others think thirty five F-35s is too little and would like to buy more. Obviously right now France is a bit upset about the decision.
 

McCool

Contributor
Messages
685
Reactions
1,907
Nation of residence
Indonesia
Nation of origin
Indonesia
FCAS will most likely continue, however France will most likely take leadership of the project. There's debate about what the new spending should be used for, while some prefer increased investment in FCAS, others think thirty five F-35s is too little and would like to buy more. Obviously right now France is a bit upset about the decision.

I think Germany could afford well above 80 fleet of F-35s. Even smaller Finland committed to 64 F-35. $100B+ is a lot of money
 

tomthebotfly

Active member
Messages
66
Reactions
1 218
Nation of residence
Germany
Nation of origin
Italy
I think Germany could afford well above 80 fleet of F-35s. Even smaller Finland committed to 64 F-35. $100B+ is a lot of money
I think a large amount of the money will however be spent towards maintaining, supplying, and modernizing current inventories. For example, Germany has only around 350 Leopard 2 MBTs, despite being the producer, of only like 160 are active, and only 100 are the latest A7+ variant. Or the thing I stated about only 10 Eurofighters being combat ready, or the Navy lacking munitions. It is possible they could go the way of the Danish Army, which keep very low amounts of tanks in storage, with the vast majority of equipment being always combat ready and modernized. They only have 40 Leopard 2s, but all of them are A7+ Variants and operational. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_equipment_of_the_Royal_Danish_Army#:~:text=44,service by 2023.
Other options are available for the German Armed Forces though.
 

McCool

Contributor
Messages
685
Reactions
1,907
Nation of residence
Indonesia
Nation of origin
Indonesia
I think a large amount of the money will however be spent towards maintaining, supplying, and modernizing current inventories. For example, Germany has only around 350 Leopard 2 MBTs, despite being the producer, of only like 160 are active, and only 100 are the latest A7+ variant. Or the thing I stated about only 10 Eurofighters being combat ready, or the Navy lacking munitions. It is possible they could go the way of the Danish Army, which keep very low amounts of tanks in storage, with the vast majority of equipment being always combat ready and modernized. They only have 40 Leopard 2s, but all of them are A7+ Variants and operational. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_equipment_of_the_Royal_Danish_Army#:~:text=44,service by 2023.
Other options are available for the German Armed Forces though.
Iirc, German comms are outdated as well. Most of them still uses analogue radio. There's clearly a lot of homework for the Bundeswehr.
 

Follow us on social media

Top Bottom