Overview
- At the Berlin Security Conference, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius cited damaged undersea cables, airspace violations and drone overflights as deliberate precursors, calling for a rapid build‑up of European defense.
- Pistorius said the Baltic Sea is shifting from a bridge to a theater of confrontation and described it as a proving ground for Europe’s deterrence and response.
- Germany signed a new cooperation agreement with Sweden to deepen military collaboration, with Stockholm serving as this year's partner country at the conference.
- NATO General Ingo Gerhartz said Germany lacks the required strategic maturity and argued the alliance must be able to deter through Germany, urging a rethink of deterrence in the grey zone below Article 5.
- Gerhartz pressed for fundamental procurement reform, swift rollout of the new national service and broader societal readiness, while highlighting long acquisition timelines and limited industrial surge capacity; recent steps include a Germany–Canada pact to modernize the Navy’s command‑and‑control system over roughly 25 years for more than €1 billion.