For the first time in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany, Berlin published a military strategy last week. The timing is not coincidental, coming in the midst of a major German military buildup, as well as dramatic disruptions in European security and the trans-Atlantic partnership in which German defense policy has been embedded since the postwar period.
According to data published by the Swedish SIPRI think tank this week, Germany is now Europe’s biggest military spender and the world’s fourth-biggest, having boosted its defense spending to $114 billion in 2025, marking a 24 percent year-on-year increase. Formulating a strategy for what to do with all that money seems like a wise choice, particularly given the shifting outlook for Germany’s regional security and core alliance.
Anyone looking for concrete figures on how many tanks or fighter jets the Bundeswehr—as the German armed forces are known—needs will be disappointed, however. This strategy document is silent on all that, or at least the declassified parts of it are. Instead, it “sets priorities and defines how the Bundeswehr ensures deterrence in the Alliance – and, in particular, how it fights when necessary.”