Coalition of the willing: Who they are, their role in the Ukraine war
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer led a virtual meeting which included over 30 international leaders on Tuesday morning of what is known as ‘coali...
Germany is preparing multi-billion-euro defence purchases including jets and thousands of armoured vehicles, aiming to create Europe’s most powerful army amid concerns over U.S. reliability.
Germany is set to place some of its largest military orders since the Cold War, with plans to procure 20 Eurofighter jets, up to 3,000 Boxer armoured vehicles, and around 3,500 Patria infantry fighting vehicles, according to sources.
The move is part of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s broader push to strengthen German military capabilities and reduce dependence on the United States for European security.
The planned purchases form a key pillar of Merz's defence overhaul, following his success in gaining parliamentary approval to exempt military spending from the country's strict constitutional debt ceiling.
Germany's regular defence budget is projected to rise to €83 billion ($95.8 billion) by 2026, a €20 billion increase from the previous year.
The Eurofighter order alone is estimated at between €4 billion and €5 billion. The Boxer armoured vehicles, jointly produced by KNDS and Rheinmetall, are expected to cost around €10 billion, while the Patria fighting vehicles could total approximately €7 billion euro.
Delivery of the Boxer and Patria platforms is expected to unfold over the next decade.
Germany also plans to expand its air defence capabilities with more IRIS-T systems and several hundred SkyRanger drone defence units, though pricing for those systems has not yet been finalised.
The German Defence Ministry has yet to comment on the procurement plans, parts of which were also reported by Bloomberg, although with slightly different figures.
Chancellor Merz has committed to meeting NATO’s new target of 3.5% of GDP on defence by 2029 — a level that few other alliance members have pledged to match. He has made clear that this is necessary for Germany to shoulder greater security responsibilities in Europe.
Germany’s military build-up comes amid persistent criticism of the Bundeswehr’s readiness. Hours after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the then-head of the German army admitted the country’s forces were severely under-equipped, saying the Bundeswehr was "standing there more or less empty-handed."
A powerful eruption at Japan’s Shinmoedake volcano sent an ash plume more than 3,000 metres high on Sunday morning, prompting safety warnings from authorities.
According to the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), a magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck the Oaxaca region of Mexico on Saturday.
'Superman' continued to dominate the summer box office, pulling in another $57.25 million in its second weekend, as theatres welcome a wave of blockbuster competition following a challenging few years for the film industry.
Honduras has brought back mask mandates as COVID-19 cases and a new variant surge nationwide.
The UK is gearing up for Exercise Pegasus 2025, its largest pandemic readiness test since COVID-19. Running from September to November, this full-scale simulation will challenge the country's response to a fast-moving respiratory outbreak.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer led a virtual meeting which included over 30 international leaders on Tuesday morning of what is known as ‘coalition of the willing’.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that last week’s U.S.-Russia summit in Alaska showed U.S. President Donald Trump and his team were genuinely committed to securing a long-term and sustainable peace in Ukraine.
Russia has recently handed over another 1,000 bodies of fallen servicemen to the Ukrainian side, while Ukraine, in turn, transferred 19 bodies to Russia.
Air Canada's unionised flight attendants reached an agreement with the country's largest carrier on Tuesday, ending the first strike by its cabin crew in 40 years that had upended travel plans for hundreds of thousands of passengers.
The United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) warned that around three million Syrians could face severe hunger, noting that more than half of the country’s 25.6 million people are already food insecure.
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