Berlin has drafted a €377 billion multiyear defense blueprint spanning land, air, sea, space, and cyber domains. The plan marks a historic pivot in German defense financing and rearmament, reshaping NATO’s European balance with major U.S. and domestic system buys.
POLITICO disclosed on October 27, 2025, that Berlin has mapped a €377 billion multiyear procurement blueprint that stretches across land, air, sea, space and cyber, a 39-page internal overview that will anchor the Bundeswehr’s 2026 budget cycle and beyond. The plan lists roughly 320 new projects, underpinned by a political decision to ease Germany’s debt brake for defense after the near exhaustion of the €100 billion special fund, and requires parliamentary committee approval for each tranche above €25 million. The document points to an industry-first approach, with German primes, notably Rheinmetall, positioned to absorb a large share of orders.
Air and ground-based air defenses form the spine of the plan. The army intends to field 561 Skyranger 30 turrets for counter-drone and very short-range protection, a Rheinmetall-led program that teams a 30×173 mm revolver cannon with programmable airburst effectors and optional short-range missiles for a 3 km gun envelope and missile reach out to 6 km. At the medium tier, the Bundeswehr seeks 14 IRIS-T SLM batteries plus 396 SLM interceptors and 300 short-range IRIS-T LFK rounds, building a national defense against cruise missiles and aircraft. Diehl’s published performance places IRIS-T SLM at roughly 40 km engagement range with 360-degree coverage, a capability already validated in combat service abroad.
Berlin plans new munitions for its IAI Heron TP fleet, budgeted around €100 million, alongside a dozen LUNA NG tactical drones at about €1.6 billion and four naval uMAWS systems priced near €675 million, including training and sustainment. The Heron TP is a high altitude, long endurance platform with 30-plus hours on station, SATCOM control and payload capacity above 1,000 kg, suited to ISR and precision strike carriage as policy evolves. LUNA NG brings a digitized data link and 100 to 150 km control radius in its latest configuration, giving brigades organic reconnaissance that stands up in poor weather.
The plan foresees 687 Puma IFVs by 2035, including 662 combat variants, a scale that lifts Germany’s mechanized force density and standardizes on a 30 mm MK30 2 ABM cannon with airburst ammunition and MELLS Spike LR anti-tank missiles for overmatch inside 4 km. At sea and over it, an interim maritime patrol buy of four P-8A Poseidons through the U.S. FMS system backfills anti-submarine surveillance with the APY 10 radar, high altitude weapon release and sonobuoy fusion. Space spending tops €14 billion, including a €9.5 billion low Earth orbit constellation to harden, de-jam and modernize command connectivity.
Skyranger 30 pushes counter-UAS and rocket mortar defeat to the maneuver battalion, while IRIS-T SLM extends the shield to medium range, tying sensors and shooters into resilient links. The new LEO network is designed to protect. Heron TP and LUNA NG generate persistent ISR, cueing artillery, Pumas and air defense with timely targeting, and the P-8A closes the undersea picture for the Baltic and North Sea approaches. The long-range strike tier stands out, with a planned buy of 400 Tomahawk Block Vb cruise missiles and three Typhon road-mobile launchers that together open a 2,000 km reach for conventional deterrence.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz has framed an ambition to build Europe’s strongest conventional army, and the financing shift that partially exempts defense from the constitutional debt brake makes that pledge credible beyond a single fund cycle. The list is overwhelmingly domestic in value, anchored by Rheinmetall’s €88 billion footprint and a total of about 160 home-linked projects worth €182 billion, yet Germany’s strategic edge still rides on U.S. systems. That includes a potential top up of 15 F-35S for nuclear sharing, four P-8As and the Typhon Tomahawk strike complex, a cluster of roughly 25 foreign-linked lines that equals less than 5% of spend but underwrites nuclear and deep strike roles.
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