Germany Buys 20 More Eurofighters, Builds Ammo in Lithuania

By Jim Morris, Warrior Vice President, News

Germany has been criticized by the US and other NATO allies for not spending enough on defense. Now, Chancellor Olaf Scholz wants to something about that – before the country holds its next elections in 2025.

On Wednesday, Germany announced plans to buy 20 more Eurofighters in a deal valued at up to $4.3 billion , including maintenance and logistics. The Luftwaffe has 38 of the jets on back order and has 138 Eurofighters already in service. It’s built by the UK’s BAE Systems, Airbus and Italy’s Leonardo.

The purchase is the latest in a German spending spree on defense that began when Scholz announced a special $109 billion budget to bolster the military after Russia invaded Ukraine.

In a speech at this week’s Berlin air show, Scholz repeated his promise that Germany will achieve the NATO goal of spending at least two percent of its gross domestic product on defense. Last year, German defense spending was well below that mark – about 1.5% of GDP. The Eurofighter deal should help Scholz reach the target this year.

Germany is under budget pressures and tax revenues are expected to be lower this year. Still, defense is the only sector of government spending hat’s likely to see significant growth.

The Eurofighter is a twin-engined supersonic jet that went into service in 2003. It’s now flown by the air forces of Germany, the UK, Spain, Italy, Austria, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and Qatar. The plane was designed to be a dogfighter, but later models incorporated changes to allow for air-to-surface strike missions.