Category: News

German military places order for up to 6,500 trucks

Unprotected Transport Vehicle (UTF) | Photo: RMMV GmbH

The Bundeswehr says it plans to commission up to 6,500 Unprotected Transport Vehicles over the next seven years, with an agreement for the production and production of transport vehicles in the load classes 3.5 tonnes, 5 tonnes and 15 tonnes by the Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicle (RMMV) GmbH company in an order that could be worth up to EUR 3.5 billion.

German arms exports surge with deliveries to Kiev, Riyadh

Finished HK416 assault rifles are lined up in the production hall of arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch in Oberndorf. German arms exports have reached a new record level for the second year in a row, mostly due to continued and growing military aid for Ukraine, according to the Economy Ministry. | - Photo: Bernd Weiflbrod/dpa/28 February 2022, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Oberndorf

Between January 01, 2024 and June 18, 2024, the German government approved a total of weapons exports worth at least EUR 7.48 billion (USD 8.01 billion), up 30 percent from the first half of last year, with some 65 percent of the exports, worth EUR 4.88 billion, destined for Ukraine.

NATO sees German defence spending at €90.6B

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg during his speech at the Wilson Center in Washington D.C. | Source: NATO

A new NATO overview says the record €90.6B on defence expenditure, to which Berlin committed for the first time this year, corresponds to a 2.12 percent share of the forecast German GDP, and is higher than expected at the beginning of the year.

Israeli arms exports topped $12.5B in 2022

Israeli defence exports from 2000 to 2022. Click the image to view the complete set of graphics explaining Israel's defence exports | Source: International Defense Cooperation Directorate (SIBAT), Israeli Ministry of Defence

Israel’s defence ministry reported that exports to Abraham Accords countries, alone, reached approximately USD 3 billion, amounting to 24 percent of Israeli weapons sales and exports of unmanned systems made up 25 percent of its exports.

Israel to order 25 F-35 fighters

File photo of the Israeli Air Force F-35 "Adir" | Photo: Israeli Ministry of Defense

Israel will acquire 25 Lockheed Martin fifth-generation F-35 stealth fighters and the Israeli Air Force will expand its fleet to 75 of these advanced stealth aircraft. The delivery of the aircraft to the IDF will commence in 2028 at a rate of three to five aircraft per year. The transaction is valued at approximately USD 3 billion, funded by U.S. Foreign Military Financing (FMF).

NATO allies fed up with Berlin opposing name of new Ukraine mission

Bilateral meeting between NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine on April 29, 2024 | Photo: NATO

NATO allies are planning to launch a new project in support of Kiev, dubbed “NATO Mission Ukraine“, at their next summit in Washington. The German government is reportedly concerned that designating the project a mission could be understood as NATO planning to send troops to Ukraine, and prefers the name, “Pledge Assistance Coordination Training” – or “PACT“.

German arms firm KNDS unable to send weapons to Ukraine any time soon

A LEOPARD 2 A5 on the training grounds in Munster | Photo: KNDS

Ralf Ketzel, managing director of KNDS, manufacturer of Leopard 2 battle tanks, said,”The ability to deliver quickly is now exhausted,” adding, “Two years ago, a strategic decision should have been made that this will be a war lasting several years. Then we could deliver new material today,” in reference to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched in February 2022.

Turkish naval UCAV passes ski-jump tests

Bayraktar TB3 naval Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle conducts ski-jump tests at the Baykar Flight Training and Test Center in Keşan, Edirne in the Turkish Republic on June 02, 2024 | Photo: Baykar

The Bayraktar TB3 naval Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle is intended for service in the Turkish UAV carrier TCG Anadolu and according to manufacturer, Baykar, the test was conducted from a ramp at a test centre. The Bayraktar TB3 has logged almost 396 hours of flight over the course of testing, with a peak endurance demonstration of 32 hours, covering a distance of 5,700 kilometres during a test in December. Baykar said they plan to begin tests of the TB3 onboard the TCG Anadolu later this year.

Rheinmetall to build ammunition plant in Lithuania

The Lithuanian Minister of the Economy and Innovation, Aušrinė Armonaitė, has signed an agreement delineating the arrival of Rheinmetall, the German military industry giant, to Lithuania | Photo: Ministry of the Economy and Innovation of the Republic of Lithuania

Economy Minister Aušrinė Armonaitė said Rheinmetall would invest more than €180 million ($195 million) in the new plant, which is expected to produce 155-millimetre artillery shells. Rheinmetall is already active in Lithuania, operating a maintenance centre with defence company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann in the country since 2022. The facility maintains combat vehicles used by NATO combat units stationed in the region, as well as Leopard 2 battle tanks given by Germany to Ukraine.

Germany to order 20 Eurofighter aircraft

05 June 2024, Brandenburg, Schoenefeld: Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks during the opening tour of the International Aerospace Exhibition (ILA) on the grounds of Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) | Photo: Sebastian Christoph Gollnow/dpa

Scholz said he was “strongly in favour of maintaining and expanding production capacities. That is why we will order 20 more Eurofighters in this legislative period, in addition to the 38 aircraft that are currently still in the pipeline.”