20260629 Geldverschwendung im Verteidigungsministerium

Spent the money fast

... before people realize that the “special fund” isn't a fund at all. This has been the approach of the Federal Ministry of Defense for the past two years. Last year, they kicked it into high gear—skipping certain competitive bidding processes to funnel the money into the pockets of the arms lobbyists as quickly as possible.

The “independent Monopoly Commission” has now also taken note of this, following warnings from Schwarz, the SPD’s defense budget rapporteur, and Schäfer, the Green Party’s budget policy spokesperson. They had noted that, by international standards, the costs of military procurement projects are in some cases unreasonably high and marked by a strong tendency toward markups.

This led the “Independent Monopolies Commission” to warn that innovation and competitiveness would suffer if the vast majority of spending were directed toward conventional systems produced by major German defense contractors.

(No) Criticism of the Rearmament Course

The criticism is there, but it remains far too narrow. The critics mentioned above see that billions are being wasted, but they do not oppose the war effort. That is why we would like to draw attention to the new issue of “Ausdruck,” the magazine of the Information Center on Militarization (Issue 125). This issue once again provides a concrete series of examples of how our future tax dollars are already being funneled from the bottom up into the pockets of defense industry shareholders.

The FCAS (Future Combat Air System) was supposed to cost 100 billion. The project (fortunately) failed due to disputes between Airbus and Dassault. But money was squandered for 7 years.

The German Armed Forces Space Command is set to spend over 35 billion euros to launch 100–200 satellites into orbit in order to establish its own “Starlink.”

In addition, the Bundeswehr intends to deploy “non-kinetic means” in space to jam enemy satellites, thereby further undermining the 1967 Outer Space Treaty.

Digital radios for the German Armed Forces that don't fit in the vehicles for which they were ordered. The necessary modifications will cost around 5 billion.

Procurement of 6 frigates, which was canceled after 4 years and 2 billion euros in planning costs. In addition, the Inspector General of the Navy stated: “We need steel in the water, quickly and specifically specialized for anti-submarine warfare.”

Investment in the Convoy Support Center (CSC) of 230–260 million euros solely for the large-scale exercise Defender Europe 20. These are not the exercise costs, but rather military rest stops along the route to the exercise — in the past, troops would set up camp in the woods or spend the night in barracks along the way. (see IMI 125, p. 33)

4–6 billion for bunker construction in Germany instead of investing the money in the brainpower of diplomats. The Association of German Cities and Municipalities is even calling for more than 10 billion for bunkers.

Billions for new tanks, even though “military experts” believe the future lies in drone technology. The FsA campaign has been fighting since 2009 against the use of drones and, more generally, against the automated killing of people! (Over 1,700 articles and events on the topic)

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