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F-35 fighter jet at the Berlin International Aerospace Exhibition (ILA) in April 2018 in Berlin
Photo: Axel Schmidt / REUTERS
It is one of the Bundeswehr's largest armaments projects - and a central component of the modernization of the armed forces: The Bundestag has paved the way for the purchase of the US F-35 fighter jet.
The budget committee approved the plan to procure 35 of the state-of-the-art combat aircraft for an amount of almost ten billion euros.
The first machines are scheduled to go into service in 2028.
Parliament also voted for other projects to be financed from the 100 billion euro special fund for the Bundeswehr, including the purchase of new assault rifles.
Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) called the decisions on armament projects worth a total of 13 billion euros a "very important sign" that parliament stands behind the Bundeswehr.
At a joint press conference, the Inspector General of the German Armed Forces, Eberhard Zorn, spoke about the starting point for the implementation of the projects from the special fund decided after the Russian attack on Ukraine.
Germany wants to ensure nuclear sharing
The procurement of the F-35 stealth jets in the USA, including armament and spare parts, amounts to 9.99 billion euros.
With the aircraft, Germany also wants to ensure a central NATO alliance obligation: nuclear sharing.
It is about a deterrence concept of the military alliance in which allies have access to US nuclear bombs and transport them in an emergency.
This task has so far been taken over by the Bundeswehr's Tornados, which, however, will have to be phased out in the coming years for reasons of age.
After criticism from the traffic light coalition, Lambrecht admitted that the Bundeswehr was not fast enough in procurement.
However, only nine months passed between the government's decision to purchase the F-35 aircraft and the release of the funds.
This is "a remarkable time" for an armaments project.
The inspector of the air force, Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz, emphasized at the press conference that the Bundeswehr was now "on the move in the supersonic range" when it came to procurement.
According to Gerhartz, the first German pilots should be trained on the machine in the USA in 2026.
The first F-35s would then be deployed to Germany in 2027.
The aim is to declare the first operational readiness in 2028.
Irritations because of possible cost increases
SPIEGEL reported that information from the Ministry of Defense about possible risks and cost increases in the project had caused irritation among MPs last week.
This concerned, for example, the necessary conversion of airfields for the F-35, the US seller's high security requirements and possible technical problems with the approval of the fighter jets for flight operations.
The budget committee has therefore now passed a so-called stipulation, according to which the procurement of the Tornado successor has "top priority".
It points out that the Ministry of Defense has now qualified its earlier statements.
Accordingly, the probability of occurrence of the risks mentioned is "low," says the paper.
It was also decided to purchase a successor to the G36 assault rifle.
This is to be replaced by a total of 118,000 Heckler & Koch HK416 rifles.
The new assault rifle is "very, very urgently needed" for the Bundeswehr, said Lambrecht.
She also mentioned, among other things, new radio equipment, snow vehicles and the retrofitting of the Puma armored personnel carrier, for which the funds were released on Wednesday.
col/AFP
