German lawmakers are set to approve spending €2.9 billion on 11 military procurement contracts for items including drones, rifles and missiles.
The defense ministry is seeking approval for purchases from domestic manufacturers such as Heckler & Koch, Rheinmetall AG, and Quantum Systems, as well as some foreign companies.
The procurements are part of a major push to modernize Germany’s armed forces, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius aiming to turn the Bundeswehr into Europe’s largest conventional army.
German lawmakers are set to approve spending €2.9 billion ($3.4 billion) on 11 military procurement contracts, including for drones, rifles and missiles, in deals that will go largely to domestic manufacturers.
The defense ministry asked parliament to give the green light for the orders, including the purchase of as many as 250,000 G95 assault rifles from Heckler & Koch for €765 million, according to procurement documents seen by Bloomberg News. Lawmakers are expected to approve the purchases at a closed-door meeting next week.
Germany launched a major push to modernize its armed forces following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, setting aside fiscal discipline to channel hundreds of billions of euros to boost defense readiness.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius have vowed to turn the Bundeswehr into Europe’s largest conventional army. They’re tapping debt markets to invest in new drones, satellites and artificial intelligence-powered defense capabilities.
German defense giants Rheinmetall AG and Heckler & Koch, car manufacturer Daimler Benz AG, and domestic drone startups Quantum Systems and Helsing are among the companies set to win orders, according to the documents.
The ministry is seeking as many as 250,000 laser-light targeting modules from Rheinmetall Soldier Electronics for the rifles for €490 million, according to the documents. Mercedes Benz stands to win an order worth €379 million for 1,744 military off-road vehicles, while a consortium of Rheinmetall Electronics, 3M Deutschland and CeoTronics AG will provide 191,000 military headsets for €346 million, the documents said.
The ministry is also seeking approval to buy as many as 750 tactical reconnaissance drones from Munich-based startup Quantum Systems for €85 million, according to the documents.
In a break from German military procurement tradition, the ministry plans to award two competing consortia a €68 million deal to develop an AI platform to monitor NATO’s eastern flank, including in Lithuania, where Germany is ramping up a permanent battle tank brigade to deter Russia.
The first group is Airbus Defence & Space and Quantum Systems and the second is German defense startups Helsing and Arx Robotics, according to the documents, which say a larger contract is planned at a later date.
Norwegian defense manufacturer Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace AS is among the few foreign companies set to win a deal. The military is seeking to procure €445 million for missiles for Germany’s fleet of F-35 fighter jets, according to the documents. This authorization follows a contract signed in June for the missiles.
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