BERLIN (Dispatches) -- Germany plans to buy up to 35 U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets and 15 Eurofighter jets, a parliamentary source said Monday, as part of a major push to modernize the armed forces amid the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
The F-35 jets made by Lockheed Martin would replace Germany’s decades-old Tornado fleet, according to media reports confirmed by the source.
Tornados are the only Luftwaffe planes capable of carrying U.S. nuclear bombs stationed in Germany that are a key part of NATO deterrence.
Lockheed’s F-35 stealth jets are considered the most modern combat aircraft in the world, and their unique shape and coating make them harder to detect by enemy radar.
The additional Eurofighter jets Germany plans to purchase, made by a consortium that includes Airbus, would reportedly be used for other operations, including escort missions and electronic warfare like jamming enemy air defense systems.
In a landmark speech late last month, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged to invest an extra 100 billion euros ($112 billion) in the nation’s chronically underfunded Bundeswehr armed forces.
The spending boost marks a major reversal for Europe’s top economy, upending its policy of keeping a low military profile in part out of guilt over World War II.
After years of criticism that the country wasn’t shouldering enough of the financial burden in the NATO military alliance, Scholz also vowed to spend “more than two percent” of Germany’s gross domestic product annually on defense, surpassing NATO’s own two-percent target.
The shift was prompted by the return of war to the European continent following Russia’s operation in Ukraine on February 24, shaking Germany’s sense of security and shining a harsh spotlight on the state of its armed forces.
A draft budget for 2022 unveiled on Monday confirmed Germany’s spending ambitions.
If approved by parliament, the budget will see Berlin spending more than 50 billion euros this year on defense, a government source said, calling it a “record high”.
The amount comes on top of Scholz’s promised “special fund” of 100 billion euros to upgrade the armed forces over the coming years.
The F-35 purchase however raises questions about the future of a common European fighter jet being developed with Spain and France.
Known as the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), the plane is slated to replace French-made Rafale jets and German and Spanish Eurofighter planes by 2040.
Scholz sought to allay fears that the project might become unnecessary in February’s speech, by saying the joint European project was an “absolute priority”.
But the Bundeswehr has to replace its 40-year-old Tornado fleet in the short term because it has become “obsolete”, Scholz added.