Sensing a feeding frenzy, German arms makers jockey for position

SHARE OF THE DAY

Members of the Bundeswehr's 9th Panzer Training Brigade stand on a Puma infantry fighting at training grounds on Feb. 7, 2022, in Munster, Germany. Additional Puma procurements are seen as low-hanging fruit in Berlin's upcoming defense spending spree. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — German companies are jockeying for position as the government tees up massive investments meant to drastically improve the state of the armed forces.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Feb. 27 proposal to ramp up defense expenditures by tens of billions of euros, spurred by Russia’s war on Ukraine, has defense officials in Berlin scrambling to identify spending opportunities that promise fast results, according to several company officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel Lt Col Charlie Brown SSG Michael Noll Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Cpl Vic Burk MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. SGT Charlie Lee PO2 Marco Monsalve SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth ] SSG William Jones SPC Nancy Greene PO1 Tony Holland SGT Mark Anderson LTC (Join to see) SGT James Murphy Sgt (Join to see) LTC David Brown 1SG Dan Capri CDR Andrew McMenamin, PhD