Is Germany investing in the right weapons?
Germany wants to build up its army and pour hundreds of millions of euros into its defenses. But in a world where the battlefield is
Germany wants to build up its army and pour hundreds of millions of euros into its defenses. But in a world where the battlefield is increasingly dominated by cheap drones, how many expensive tanks does the country need? The German government's efforts to modernize and expand its military, the Bundeswehr, is in danger of being derailed by the country's slow procurement processes, according to critics. The wars in Ukraine and Iran have shown that drones costing just tens of thousands can be an effective against weapons that devoured countless millions to develop and manufacture. Ukrainian air defenses, for example, have shown that they are able to hold their own against Russian attacks despite the fact that the Ukraine air force has only a fraction of the number of fighter jets and bombers. Meanwhile, Germany has massively boosted its defense spending in the past few years. On top of the €100 billion ($114 billion) "special fund" announced following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the state has been rapidly raising its regular defense spending: From €62.4 billion in 2025 to €82.7 billion in 2026, with plans to raise that to €152 billion by 2029. But critics are wondering whether these vast sums are being spent in the best way, not least since FCAS Franco-German fighter jet, which cost over €100 billion, was scrapped in June. Respected defense analyst Nico Lange, who once worked for the German Defense Ministry, gave a scathing verdict on the current strategy. "It's the same dysfunctional system as before. They're just pouring significantly more money into it," he told the news portal Web.de. "The point is: Unless you actually change the structures of military planning and procurement, nothing better will come of it." Drone warfare: German startup draws on Ukraine's experience To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Germany learning its procurement lessons Germany is currently climbing a steep learning curve, according to some politicians.
Andreas Schwarz, Social Democrat member of the Bundestag defense committee, said the war in Ukraine is "completely changing how war is being fought." On a visit to Ukraine earlier this month, Schwarz found that the debates that had dominated German politics in the first year of the war — about whether Germany should send Taurus rockets or Leopard tanks to help Ukraine — had become entirely irrelevant. "When I was in Ukraine last week and visited the Defense Ministry, no one asked me about a Taurus cruise missile or a Leopard tank," he told DW. "What they need is help with drones, with ammunition, with modernizing their IT sector, with satellites and communication." Can an army still fight with 'legacy' weapons? But the Ukrainian experience doesn't mean that heavy weapons systems — often called "legacy systems" have become obsolete, as some analysts have been arguing in recent months. Max Becker, policy fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), said that the Ukrainian war had shown, on the contrary, that tanks or artillery systems were still important to capture and hold territory, as well as for long-range strikes. "It's about having the right mix of legacy systems, which you still need, and drone technology," he told DW. "That is a dilemma, because on the one hand you still need to invest in very expensive systems like combat tanks, which take a long time from order to delivery, but you also have to invest in systems like drones and loitering munitions." The Ukrainian military, Becker added, had only developed its drone-based strategy partly out of necessity, because of its lack of conventional artillery and combat tanks. "I think the scenarios that Germany and NATO are preparing for are very different from those of the war between Russia and Ukraine, because NATO has very different equipment." Andreas Schwarz also thinks that the Bundeswehr still needs the old weapons.
The BriefWire