In May, Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) declared that the Bundeswehr is to become the “strongest conventional armed force in Europe”. This presents the government with a twofold challenge: to alleviate the personnel shortage – partly by means of a new military service – and at the same time to quickly equip the troops with modern equipment.
‘Buy European’
According to Politico, the German government is working on a comprehensive armaments and procurement plan worth up to 83 billion euros. The majority of the orders are to go to European manufacturers; only around eight per cent are to be purchased in the USA. In total, the German government is planning 154 major defence procurements between September 2025 and December 2026, the online news service reported.
Europe’s dependence on American defence equipment has increased significantly in recent years. According to the Stockholm-based peace research institute Sipri, arms imports from the USA to Europe – including Ukraine – more than tripled between 2020 and 2024 compared to the previous five years.
For the first time in two decades, the largest share of US arms exports went to Europe: the share rose from 13 per cent (2015-2019) to 35 per cent (2020-2024). Overall, the European NATO states doubled their arms imports during this period, with two thirds coming from the United States.
Germany recorded a particularly drastic increase: arms imports rose by 334 per cent, around 70 per cent of which came from the USA.
The USA also continued to expand its leading role globally. Its exports increased by 21 per cent between the two five-year periods, and its share of the global arms trade grew from 35 to 43 per cent.
Now Berlin wants to take a new course, in line with the motto “Buy European”.
Defence made in the USA: what about the ‘kill switch’
According to US expert and author Dr Josef Braml, this move should not be seen as a mistake of confusing cause and effect.
“The cause was that Trump made it clear that America can no longer be relied on,” explains Braml in an interview with Euronews. Now that this has become clear, “it no longer makes sense to pay tribute for protection that we no longer get”.
According to Braml, this “tribute” was paid by buying American weapons that made Germany and other European countries dependent on US systems.
These include the “Patriot” defence system, of which Germany currently still has six. The system is considered one of the most modern and powerful air defence systems in the world. According to The Atlantic, the US government has temporarily halted the export of these systems as the Pentagon considers them to be in short supply and wants to reserve them primarily for its own use.
However, there is still no European solution for some weapon systems. This includes the F-35 fighter jet, for example.
Christophe Gomart, former head of French military intelligence and current MEP for the European People’s Party, this year put forward the theory of a so-called “kill switch”, in which the USA installs a blocking system in the jets that could be activated if the flight plan is not approved by the Pentagon.
However, the existence of the “kill switch” could not be confirmed, as there is “no way to simply switch off the F-35 remotely”, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence told German public broadcaster ARD’s flagship news programme Tagesschau.
The German government is thus maintaining its order for the jets. “However, the F-35 is a fifth-generation fighter aircraft that does not yet exist in Europe. Thanks to its stealth technology, it is almost impossible to recognise. If the armed forces make such demands of us, we can only buy from the USA,” a spokeswoman for the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) told Euronews.
‘Sovereignty also means that you can protect yourself’
Pieter Wezeman, researcher at the Stockholm Peace Research Institute Sipri and co-author of the study on the latest figures for European arms imports from the USA, emphasises, however, that Europe is already taking countermeasures: “The NATO states in Europe have taken steps to reduce their dependence on imports and strengthen their own arms industries. But the transatlantic relationship in the defence business has deep roots.”
The Marshall Plan and NATO laid the foundations for security and economic relations between Germany and the USA after the Second World War. Since Donald Trump took office, the German government has endeavoured to maintain bilateral relations. Nevertheless, the German course is running counter to the US President’s expectations.
Trump started his second term in office with the promise of “America First”. This series of political measures aims to make foreign and domestic policy decisions that prioritise the interests of the USA over those of all other nations.
As recently as February, Trump called on NATO partners to increase their defence spending to five percent and procure US weapons. In his budget, the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill”(OBBB), Trump has earmarked around 150 billion US dollars in mandatory funding for the US Department of Defence as part of his “Peace through Strength” agenda.
According to Braml, the US can rely on its own defence industry, especially when it comes to spare parts or software for individual systems. “Sovereignty also means that you can protect yourself,” US expert Braml told Euronews. If this is not the case, Braml believes that we are making ourselves vulnerable to blackmail.
During his first official visit to the White House, Merz admitted that “whether we like it or not, we will remain dependent on the United States of America for a long time to come.”
‘Security is gone, Pax Americana dead’
“We are living in a new era, in a multipolar world order, and if we do not succeed in establishing Europe as an independent pole, then we have lost in this world in which the strong do what they can and the weak suffer,” says the US expert and author of “The Transatlantic Illusion”.
Ultimately, however, a glance at the patent statistics shows that when it comes to defence technology, Washington continues to set the pace in Europe.
According to a study by the German Economic Institute (IW), US companies registered almost 18,000 patents between 2015 and 2021, while all 27 EU states together registered fewer than 12,000 patents. With around 4,300 patent applications, Germany is in second place within the EU after France, but is heavily dependent on US companies overall.
Continuing as before is therefore not an option for Braml: “Security is gone, Pax Americana is dead.” For decades, Germany has placed its defence in the hands of the USA.
Now the country must take responsibility for its own security in the shortest possible time.
