Overview
- Lawmakers cleared about €50 billion in procurements across 30 orders in a closed-door budget committee meeting, the largest single-session approval of its kind.
- The decision brings 2025 approvals to 103 major proposals totaling €82.98 billion, according to the defence ministry, with further contracts expected next year.
- Contract lines include €21 billion for basic gear and clothing, more than €4 billion for Puma infantry fighting vehicles, €3.4 billion for self-propelled howitzers, and €3 billion for Arrow 3 interceptors, with Israel reporting a $3.1 billion expansion of the Arrow 3 deal.
- The package equals roughly one‑tenth of the 2025 federal budget and is partly financed by the post‑2022 debt-funded modernization program launched under Olaf Scholz.
- European defence shares advanced, with the Stoxx Europe Aerospace & Defense index up about 1.2% and gains in Renk, Hensoldt and Rheinmetall as investors gained clearer revenue visibility.