BERLIN: Despite cutbacks in spending planned by the German government as the “debt brake” constitutional amendment goes into effect in 2011, Germany’s defense budget is expected to rise to EUR31.54 billion ($41.2 billion) next year.
If approved by parliamentary vote in December, this year-on-year increase would result in a 1.36 percent rise in German military spending, a likely one-off development that will end in 2012 as the Defense Ministry proceeds to cut EUR8.3-9.3 billion through 2015-16. The slight uptick in spending for 2011 was expected to be announced as part of the government’s overall draft budget.
The proposed defense spending plan calls for an investment in personnel of EUR16.53 billion, or almost half of the total budget. Procurement expenditure will rise slightly to EUR5.23 billion from this year’s total of EUR5.07 billion.
This total includes EUR565 million for A400M transport aircraft development, EUR1.25 billion for the purchase of Eurofighter Typhoons, and EUR87 million for Puma infantry fighting vehicles.
Out-of-theater operational costs are absorbed by the defense budget, which means that Germany’s nine foreign operations bring pressure to bear on defense investment. For 2011, the cost of these nine missions will run to EUR831 million.
