The Budget Committee of the Bundestag (German parliament) has approved 38 so-called "25 million projects" public procurement projects for the Bundeswehr (German armed forces) worth a total of around 21 billion EUR.
“With today's decisions, the Bundestag ensures that Bundeswehr soldiers are equipped with urgently needed systems“, the Ministry of Defense emphasized.
All Bundeswehr public procurement projects worth more than 25 million EUR require separate approval by the Bundestag's Budget Committee. “The approved public procurement projects amounting to around 21 billion EUR EUR will be financed through a special fund (about EUR 7 billion), the defense budget and general budget expenditures“, explained the German Defense Ministry.
With its decision, the budget committee enabled the implementation of public procurement projects for the armed forces as a whole and for each type of armed forces. In particular, the purchase of four more modern U212 CD class submarines for the German Navy was approved. For the ground forces - missile artillery with the Israeli PULS system, reactive armor for the Puma infantry fighting vehicle, equipment for the digitalization of ground operations, as well as thermal imaging cameras and thermal imaging sights. The Air Force has been given the green light for further purchases of guided missiles for the Patriot air defense system, as well as for extending the service life of the IRIS-T air defense system.
In Germany, a special fund of EUR 100 billion was created in 2022 to modernize the army. This year, the country will spend $ 73.41 billion on defense, which is 2.01% of the estimated GDP. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius noted at the Munich Security Conference on February 17 that this volume of military spending may not be enough to ensure Germany's security in the coming years.
Changes have been made to the news (1:18) - the title has been clarified, details from the first paragraph have been added.
Source: tass.ru