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German parliament to approve €2.6B in fresh military kit 

BERLIN — Germany’s Bundestag budget committee is planning to sign off on over €2.6 billion in new military programs, according to a confidential list seen by POLITICO.

The approvals, set for next week, mark another broad procurement round as Berlin ramps up defense spending and reenergizes its arms industry.

The 11-item package includes almost every capability area: drones, long-range missiles, soldier systems, logistics vehicles and critical radar upgrades. 

For Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government, it’s another step toward making the Bundeswehr a war-ready force while giving German manufacturers a steadier pipeline of long-term orders.

Some of the biggest checks are being written for drones.

MPs will clear about €68 million for Uranos KI, an AI-enabled reconnaissance network built in competing versions by Airbus Defence and Space and German defense-AI company Helsing. Another €86 million will keep the German Heron TP, operated by Airbus DS Airborne Solutions and based on Israel’s Heron TP, flying into the 2030s. Roughly €16 million will go to Aladin, a short-range reconnaissance drone developed by Munich-based start-up Quantum Systems.

Air power also gets a significant boost.

MPs are set to approve around €445 million for a new batch of Joint Strike Missiles, produced by Norway’s Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace and integrated for Germany’s incoming Lockheed Martin F-35A fleet. Separate contracts worth €37 million will replace obsolete radar components on Eurofighter jets. 

NH90 naval helicopters, built by NHIndustries — a consortium of Airbus Helicopters, Leonardo and Fokker — will receive a parallel radar upgrade, as the model returned to headlines after Norway settled a long-running availability dispute with the manufacturer.

At the soldier level, the Bundeswehr will move forward with close to €760 million for new G95 assault rifles from Heckler & Koch, nearly €490 million for laser-light modules supplied by Rheinmetall Soldier Electronics, and about €140 million for headset-based communications systems produced by Rheinmetall Electronics with major subcontractors 3M and CeoTronics.

And in a sign of Berlin’s effort to rebuild military logistics at scale, MPs will approve roughly €380 million for off-road military trucks from Mercedes-Benz and around €175 million for heavy tank-transport trailers built by DOLL. These contracts directly feed Germany’s defense-industrial base as Berlin pushes industry to deliver at wartime speed.

LP Staff Writers

Writers at Lord’s Press come from a range of professional backgrounds, including history, diplomacy, heraldry, and public administration. Many publish anonymously or under initials—a practice that reflects the publication’s long-standing emphasis on discretion and editorial objectivity. While they bring expertise in European nobility, protocol, and archival research, their role is not to opine, but to document. Their focus remains on accuracy, historical integrity, and the preservation of events and individuals whose significance might otherwise go unrecorded.

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