The war in Ukraine and the Russian invasion on February 24 changed the strategic thinking of some European countries. Germany, which before the war had a rather passive armament policy, now has other plans. These plans include the purchase of US Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters, Ednews reports citing Foreing media.
Today, the decisions taken by the Minister of Defense Mrs. Christine Lambrecht, and the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz are considered a mistake. And this suspicion does not come from society. As a slap in the face, this opinion comes from the German defense industry and the association of the German aerospace industry [BDLI].
Berlin has struck a deal with Washington in which German companies will not take part in the maintenance, refurbishment, or servicing of the planes. All the money goes to the USA, and some other European country [BulgarianMilitary.com thinks of Italy for example] will take over the service and maintenance of the fighters.
BDLI even gave an example that recent F-35 purchases negotiated with various European countries will receive local maintenance contracts. Even Switzerland, which is generally not such an active participant in international arms markets, managed to negotiate a $3 billion contract to service its aircraft.
The German publication Wirtschaft has published its latest report, which says that this order is a blow to the German arms industry. BDLI even commented on the actions of the German government and criticized it, noting that in Berlin they did not even think of an option in which the native local production would participate.
