German defense minister sees smooth sailing in parliament for his record defense budget

VIENNA — German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius told reporters after a Bundestag defense committee hearing on Wednesday that lawmakers had shown “much agreement” on his ministry’s record 2027 budget request, even as he pushed back against criticism that Germany is buying too much legacy hardware rather than new technology.

Pistorius is asking parliament to approve nearly €140 billion ($160 billion) for defense next year, combining €109.7 billion from the core ministry budget — a 32.7% increase over 2026 — with roughly €30 billion drawn from the expiring Sondervermögen Bundeswehr, a special off-budget fund created in 2022 following Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

The committee session Wednesday was part of ongoing scrutiny before the Bundestag’s final vote, expected in the chamber’s third reading on Nov. 27, following a reconciliation session in the budget committee on November 12.

Speaking after the closed-door meeting, Pistorius rejected accusations — raised by some lawmakers and commentators — that the procurement plan favors old technology over modernization. He pointed to the Leopard 2A8 tank as a “high-tech” system rather than legacy equipment, and announced that the ministry will launch its first-ever dedicated funding program for civilian universities and research institutes working on defense-relevant technologies, including artificial intelligence and unmanned systems.

On the Franco-German Main Ground Combat System, Pistorius acknowledged that the program’s original design may not survive in its current form. A day earlier, Germany and France had published a joint announcement that the project would be transitioned to pursuing “platform-independent technology” rather than a main battle tank. Pistorius said Berlin and Paris would need to agree “in the coming weeks” on shifting toward “a different, restructured project” given a threat environment he described as markedly changed from four or five years ago. The joint next-generation tank concept traces back all the way to 2012.

Despite unified opposition from the right-wing AfD, the Greens and far-left Die Linke — who call the spending plan fiscally reckless or insufficiently transparent — the governing coalition holds the votes needed to pass the budget.

Linus Höller is Defense News' Europe correspondent and OSINT investigator. He reports on the arms deals, sanctions, and geopolitics shaping Europe and the world. He holds master’s degrees in WMD nonproliferation, terrorism studies, and international relations, and works in four languages: English, German, Russian, and Spanish.

维也纳——德国国防部长鲍里斯·皮斯托里乌斯周三在联邦议院国防委员会听证会后告诉记者，议员们对他的部门提出的创纪录的2027年预算请求表示了“很大程度的同意”，尽管他反驳了德国购买过多老旧硬件而不是新技术的批评。

皮斯托里乌斯要求议会批准明年近 1400 亿欧元（1600 亿美元）的国防预算，其中包括来自核心国防部预算的 1097 亿欧元（比 2026 年增长 32.7%），以及从即将到期的联邦国防军特别基金（Sondervermögen Bundeswehr）中提取的约 300 亿欧元。该基金是 2022 年俄罗斯袭击乌克兰后设立的预算外特别基金。

周三的委员会会议是联邦议院最终投票前的持续审查的一部分，预计联邦议院将于 11 月 27 日进行三读表决，此前预算委员会于 11 月 12 日举行了一次协调会议。

在闭门会议结束后，皮斯托瑞斯驳斥了一些议员和评论员提出的指责，即采购计划偏向于老旧技术而非现代化。他指出，豹2A8坦克是“高科技”系统，而非老旧装备，并宣布国防部将启动首个专门资助民用大学和研究机构开展国防相关技术研究的项目，这些技术包括人工智能和无人系统。

关于法德联合研制的“主战坦克系统”，皮斯托瑞斯承认，该项目最初的设计方案可能无法以目前的形式继续实施。就在一天前，德国和法国联合发布声明，宣布该项目将转型，不再研发主战坦克，而是转向研发“平台无关技术”。皮斯托瑞斯表示，鉴于当前威胁环境与四五年前相比已发生显著变化，柏林和巴黎需要在“未来几周内”就转向“一个不同的、重组后的项目”达成一致。这项联合研制下一代坦克的概念可以追溯到2012年。

尽管右翼政党德国选择党、绿党和极左翼政党左翼党一致反对该支出计划，称其财政政策鲁莽或透明度不足，但执政联盟仍拥有通过该预算所需的票数。

林努斯·霍勒是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者和开源情报调查员。他报道影响欧洲乃至全球的军火交易、制裁和地缘政治。他拥有大规模杀伤性武器不扩散、恐怖主义研究和国际关系三个硕士学位，并精通英语、德语、俄语和西班牙语四种语言。