Finland’s withdrawal from the Ottawa Anti-Personnel Landmines Convention has formally taken effect, six months after notification was submitted to the United Nations. The decision allows Finland to plan for the reintroduction of landmines while maintaining its international legal obligations. Poland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, which also share borders with Russia, have already completed their withdrawal from the treaty.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said any European protection force for Ukraine would depend on Russia’s response and unresolved legal and command issues, following talks in Berlin for a force to help secure a possible ceasefire.
Boeing has announced two major defence awards: a nearly USD 4.7 billion FMS contract to supply 96 AH-64E Apaches to Poland, and a USD 2.47 billion U.S. Air Force order for 15 KC-46A tankers, expanding global fleets of both platforms.
Poland has chosen Sweden’s A26 Blekinge-class submarine offer to replace its Kilo-class submarine. Saab says negotiations will now begin with Poland’s Armaments Agency, with no contract yet signed and delivery expected around 2030.
Germany will contribute at least €150 million toward the purchase of US-made military equipment for Ukraine, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said during a meeting of the “Group of Five” European defence ministers in Berlin under NATO’s PURL scheme.
Germany will deploy Eurofighter jets to Poland’s Malbork Air Base as part of NATO’s new Eastern Sentry mission to strengthen air patrols along the alliance’s eastern flank. Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said the deployment will enhance NATO’s visibility and readiness amid repeated Russian airspace and drone incursions affecting Poland, Estonia, Denmark, and Romania.
150 German soldiers with five Eurofighter jets began their deployment at the Minsk Mazowiecki military airfield in Poland to monitor its airspace for a few weeks upon its request, while, so far, having performed the same role from Rostock, in north-eastern Germany.
18 European Union member states have asked for loans worth €127 billion under the new €150 billion SAFE fund for defence spending with the deadline for formal submission of requests under SAFE to end on 30 November 2025.
The proposed 2,000+ km range deep precision weapon planned to be fielded in the 2030s could fill a capability gap uncovered by the death of the INF Treaty between Russia and the U.S., which barred land-based intermediate range missiles.
Europe appears to have accepted the prospect of acting independently of the United States, with a new rearmament program proposed by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, last week.
As NATO races to supply Ukraine before Trump takes office, Europe is struggling to touch two percent of its GDP on defence expenditure while Russia plans to spend more than 32 percent of its national budget on its military.
The strategy paper that is said to be an evolving, ‘living document,’ includes ‘detailed plans’ for eventualities that range from defending Germany to deterring Russian manoeuvres on NATO’s eastern flank and anticipates that Germany might have to become a ‘hub for tens or hundreds of thousands of troops’ that have to be transported east, besides logistics for war materiel.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said that the Bundeswehr needs around €58 billion ($63 billion) in 2025 to quickly close capability gaps. “As things stand, we will be allocated around €52 billion”, he said, adding, “That means we will be short of almost €6 billion next year.”
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.
Poland’s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski described the delivery of U.S. ATACMS missiles to Ukraine as a “reaction to the Russian escalation” in Ukraine, to which Germany must also respond.
