"Now the F-35 is needed": Federal government wants stealth jets for the Bundeswehr

Created: 03/14/2022, 16:11

It will be the first major project for the Bundeswehr after Russia's attack on Ukraine: F-35 fighter jets for NATO's nuclear deterrent concept.

Berlin – The federal government wants to equip the Luftwaffe with F-35 stealth jets in a modernization program worth billions.

The machines from the manufacturer Lockheed Martin are to be procured as successors to the Tornado fleet introduced more than 40 years ago, as the German Press Agency (dpa) learned from government circles in Berlin.

The F-35 is considered the most modern combat aircraft in the world and is also purchased for Germany's so-called nuclear participation, a deterrent concept from NATO*, in which allies have access to US nuclear bombs.

Because of its special shape and exterior coating, the machine is difficult for enemy radar to detect.

Up to 50 new F-35 jets for the Bundeswehr – and more Eurofighters?

According to dpa information, it is planned to buy up to 35 of the stealth jets.

The Tornado, which has been used up to now and can only be kept operational with increasing effort, has also been used in the Bundeswehr for electronic air combat - the disruption, suppression and combating of enemy air defense positions.

A Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth jet from the USA with a radar device from the armaments company Hensoldt at the Space Exhibition (ILA) in Berlin.

© Britta Pedersen/zb/dpa

According to information from the German Press Agency, further Eurofighters are to be purchased for this task – according to the status of the project, 15 pieces.

However, the manufacturer Airbus still has to technically equip these in the next few years, which is considered to be extremely demanding.

Previous DoD plans included purchasing the US F-18 aircraft, which had yet to be certified for use with nuclear weapons.

After a conversation between Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht and Chancellor Olaf Scholz* in January (both SPD*), a broader test order was issued.

The F-35 was also considered.

It is already certified for nuclear weapons and equipped with limited electronic warfare.

Bundeswehr: "Synergy effects" for the NATO partners through F-35

Earlier concerns of the federal government that the purchase of the F-35 could counteract the plans jointly operated with France* for the construction of a European “combat aircraft of the future” (FCAS/Future Combat Air System) have now receded into the background and seem from Berlin’s point of view largely invalidated.

In the case of the F-35, it was recently pointed out that NATO partners in Europe also use the machine and that "synergy effects" are possible in operation.

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The traffic light coalition had agreed on the procurement of a Tornado successor in the coalition agreement.

“We will procure a successor system for the Tornado fighter aircraft at the beginning of the 20th legislative period.

We will objectively and conscientiously accompany the procurement and certification process with a view to Germany's nuclear participation," stated the SPD, Greens* and FDP*.

Response to the Ukraine war: F-35 fighter jets would be the first major purchase

Officially never confirmed, but a kind of open secret: 20 thermonuclear B61 gravitational bombs of the US armed forces are said to be stored in Büchel in the Eifel, which so far can be latched under German tornadoes.

In response to the Ukraine war* and the threats by Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin* against the West, Chancellor Scholz had announced a one-off “special fund” of 100 billion euros and a significant increase in annual defense spending.

In the future, more than two percent of the gross domestic product is to be invested in defense every year.

At the end of February, the Chairwoman of the Defense Committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, demanded: “Today, the Tornado successor should be the first step on the table.

Now the F-35 is needed, the most modern combat aircraft in the world and used by many of our partners," said the FDP politician.

The war in Ukraine* clearly shows that "attacks are carried out from the air and must be answered or prevented accordingly".

(red/dpa)