The traffic light wants to invest 100 billion euros in special funds in the Bundeswehr. That’s what Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) promised in his speech on the “turning point”. He didn’t get any more specific than that at first. Now a report speaks of a secret list.
The federal government wants to strengthen the Bundeswehr with a special program of 100 billion euros and thus close equipment gaps. This special fund is to be anchored in the Basic Law, which requires a two-thirds majority in the Bundestag and Bundesrat. The Union must therefore also agree to this.
However, what the money should be spent on is increasingly controversial. The Union demands that it be invested exclusively in the Bundeswehr, which is suffering from major equipment and material shortages. Some traffic light politicians are also in favor of strengthening civil protection.
Now, apparently, a “shopping list” with specific weapons and military technology has appeared for the first time. Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht met with the most important traffic light politicians from the defense sector on Monday, reports the “Bild am Sonntag”. It is said that they invited you to have a snack and presented a top-secret interim result. Photos and notes were therefore forbidden, the paper was then collected again.
But participants remembered to the newspaper: 41 billion euros for the air force, 19 billion for the navy and 16 billion for the army were on the project list.
And more specifically: For the army, among other things, the first tranche of Puma tanks is to be retrofitted, and a heavy weapon carrier is to come as the successor to the Wiesel tracked vehicle. In the Navy, class 130 corvettes, 126 frigates and class 212 CD submarines are said to have been mentioned, and the air force is said to have F35 fighter jets, Chinook helicopters, other Eurofighters, a missile protection screen, air defense against aircraft, drones and helicopters (type IRIS -T-SLM).
An additional two billion euros are to be invested in the personal equipment of the soldiers, for example for night vision or radio equipment. A two-digit billion sum would have to be expected again for a conversion of radio to digital.
It can be assumed that the list is closely coordinated with Chancellor Scholz. He had declared the Ukraine war and its consequences to be a top priority. Lambrecht is considered controversial, also internally. An SPD politician told the “Bild” openly: “Scholz decides on every armament project himself. That’s better for the country and the Bundeswehr. Lambrecht is not in the saddle and shows little interest in the military.”
CDU leader Friedrich Merz had already publicly asked Scholz to dismiss Lambrecht. But the defense minister is unimpressed. “I’ve taken on the job of Secretary of Defense. And anyone who knows me knows that I also fulfill the tasks I have taken on,” said the SPD politician in a recent interview. She emphasized: “My goal at the end of the election period is that, looking back, you can say: You finally made sure that the Bundeswehr is properly equipped.”
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