Berlin (AFP) – Germany is hoping to expand defence industry ties with the United States and produce more US-designed weaponry at factories in the country, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said Wednesday. The pitch comes just ahead of a major NATO summit scheduled for July 7-8 in Turkey, where European military expansion will remain in focus as US President Donald Trump puts pressure on allies to spend more.
“We know that American production capacities are limited and that there is an urgent need to expand,” Pistorius told reporters alongside Chancellor Friedrich Merz and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who had been invited to join a cabinet meeting in Berlin. “That is why we are very interested in manufacturing certain systems, or components of systems, here in Germany,” Pistorius added.
Demand for key American weaponry — particularly missiles and interceptors like the Patriot system — has surged amid wars and global crises, and stockpiles are running low for weapons that have seen heavy use in Ukraine and the Middle East. At the same time, Germany and other European NATO allies are seeking to further develop their own weapons industries and reduce dependence on American-made gear. That shift has been driven in part by Trump’s frequent questioning of US security commitments to Europe — as well as more intense conflicts, such as Trump’s tariff blitz and threats to seize the Danish territory of Greenland.
“No one, while calling for greater independence, has said that we want to forgo American systems,” Pistorius stressed, saying that there are US-made weapons that Europe does not produce but “which we urgently need over the next five to 10 years”. For his part, the NATO leader welcomed Germany’s efforts to bolster its military and its weapons production capacity.
The NATO summit “will focus on turning extra spending into combat-ready capabilities and significantly scaling up our defence industries,” Rutte said. “Germany is an industrial powerhouse with major defence companies and world-class research institutions.” Rutte added that even if the war in Ukraine ends, “Russia will remain a long-term threat to Euro-Atlantic security”.
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