Is Berlin ready to please Washington with more F-35s?
The German government plans to purchase 15 more F-35 fighter jets. Revealed by Politico, the confidential talks between Germany and the United States come at a critical time for European defense cooperation, while the FCAS—a joint European sixth-generation fighter program between France, Germany, and Spain—remains stalled.
Germany plans to purchase more F-35s, the fifth-generation fighter jets produced by US giant Lockheed Martin.
According to Politico , the German government plans to purchase 15 more F-35 fighter jets, increasing its planned fleet of jets from 35 to 50. The confidential talks between Germany and the United States, which have not been officially disclosed, come at a delicate time for European defense cooperation, the newspaper emphasizes.
The agreement would fill a gap, given that France, Germany and Spain have been unable to reach an agreement on the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) project.
Launched in 2017, the Franco-German-Spanish program—estimated to be worth over €100 billion—is designed to replace the French Rafale and the German and Spanish Eurofighters starting in 2040. The FCAS focuses on the development of a next-generation fighter aircraft, remote aircraft carriers, and a combat cloud. The project involves national defense companies Dassault Aviation, Airbus, and Spain's Indra. Dassault Aviation produces the French Rafale fighter, while Airbus builds the Eurofighter, currently in service in Germany and Spain.
The FCAS program is currently facing delays as the companies involved have been engaged in lengthy discussions over intellectual property and export policies.
Now, with the FCA appearing increasingly under pressure and Germany needing to fill a future aircraft shortage, the option of adding 15 more F-35s is being pursued more seriously than previous proposals, Politico notes.
All the details.
Germany Ready to Buy More F-35s
On December 14, 2022, the German Ministry of Defense announced it was purchasing 35 fifth-generation fighters produced by the American giant Lockheed Martin, after the budget committee of the Bundestag, the German parliament, gave the green light. The aircraft will cost €8.3 billion.
Specifically, the F-35s will replace the Tornado fighter-bombers by 2030. The latter have been in service with the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) since 1980. Germany will also upgrade its Eurofighter Typhoon jets for electronic warfare.
“Talks on a new F-35 deal mark a significant shift for Berlin, which has publicly championed the FCA as a pillar of European sovereignty,” Politico comments.
Last April, the newly installed German government declared that it intended to rapidly advance the development of the FCAS, as reported by Defense News.
WHILE FCAS STIRRS
But something has cracked in the axis between Paris and Berlin on defense, with new tensions exploding around the Future Combat Air System (FCAS).
According to an industry source, France has requested an 80% work-sharing agreement for the future combat air system project between Germany, France, and Spain. If confirmed, it would represent a further shakeup for the already behind-the-curtain program.
Furthermore, the request would undermine the agreed division of labor and could prevent the project from entering its next phase, an industry source told Reuters .
MERZ'S TWISTS
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz admitted on Wednesday that disagreements remain over the shape of the FCAS project.
"We have decided to definitively clarify this issue in the coming months," Merz said during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Berlin. "The differing opinions on the composition of this consortium have not yet been resolved."
Merz had previously pushed for increased defense spending and greater European military capabilities, arguing that Europe must reduce its dependence on the United States, according to Politico . "We Europeans must become stronger ourselves," he said at an industry event in Berlin in June, warning that "the United States' tolerance of low European defense spending will not continue."
Washington's threatened disengagement, fueled by President Trump, along with the president's demands for European allies to contribute more to NATO, have long put pressure on European countries.
In a televised address earlier this year, Merz described his "top priority" as strengthening Europe so that it can "step by step achieve independence from the United States," the outlet adds. But the additional purchase of F-35s would signal a pragmatic return to American hardware, at least in the short term.
Furthermore, at the conclusion of the NATO summit in The Hague at the end of June , the 32 countries of the Atlantic Alliance approved the commitment to increase military spending to up to 5% of GDP by 2035. Therefore, the reported German order would also be in line with this goal.
IN VIEW OF A MEETING WITH MACRON
Finally, a bilateral meeting between the German leader and French President Emmanuel Macron is scheduled for the end of the month in Berlin. The summit is expected to address both the impasse over the FCAS program and the broader direction of European defense cooperation, Politico concludes.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/spazio-e-difesa/berlino-pronta-a-far-felice-washington-con-ulteriori-f-35/ on Fri, 11 Jul 2025 11:50:08 +0000.