Handelsblatt article...looks like the pressure is being turned up....
https://www.handelsblatt.com/meinun...noevriert-berlin-in-ein-dilemma/29451412.html
The Eurofighter maneuvers Berlin into a dilemma
Nowhere is the problem of German security policy more evident than in the question of whether combat aircraft should be delivered to Saudi Arabia. There are no easy answers.
Markus Fasse
October 20, 2023 - 12:53 p.m
The Eurofighter project is running out of orders.
The unfortunate thing about this federal government is that it constantly feels forced to make decisions that go against its convictions. It keeps coal-fired power plants running longer and
buys liquid gas in Qatar. It is running into debt to equip the
Bundeswehr .
And it will soon have to decide whether countries like
Saudi Arabia should get new fighter jets.
This was a sensitive issue even before the impending conflagration in the Middle East. Now the whole dilemma that German security policy is in is becoming apparent - and the Eurofighter is the biggest symbol of this.
The Eurofighter was conceived during the Cold War.
Europe , according to the idea, should be able to defend itself independently of American technology. Because hardly any country can afford this alone given the enormous costs, four European countries joined forces.
The Eurofighter has been built jointly by German, British, Italian and Spanish industries since the turn of the millennium. The fact that
France is going its own way with the competing product “Rafale” is one of those strange European aberrations.
The Eurofighter is like any other European armament: it has an economic problem; the number of units is too low in relation to the high development costs. While the American competitor F35 has 3,500 orders, the Eurofighter only has 680.
The USA spends four times as much money on armaments as the most important European countries combined
This reflects the ratio of military spending. At $877 billion, the
USA spent four times as much money last year as
Germany , France and Great Britain combined. The Americans are also exporting their equipment more freely to allies.
So far, the Europeans have been able to compensate for this disadvantage by continually reordering the Eurofighter. But that's over, the project is running out of orders. Only Germany and Spain are still buying new aircraft for their own needs; a total of 58 are still to be built.
Perhaps there will be 40 new aircraft that Germany will order in the coming years, Airbus Defense boss Michael Schöllhorn hopes. But without new orders there is a risk of disruption in production, in the supply chain and in development.
The specialists for engine construction, flight control, avionics and networking are then missing for future projects such as the FCAS fighter jet agreed with France, which is targeted for 2040. Orders have to come by then - if you don't want to only buy American products again in the future.
One way out is export - with the Eurofighter, each partner country finds its own customers. Germany has sold 15 machines to Austria. Great Britain and Italy, however, serve Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and, above all, Saudi Arabia. To date, all German governments have supported these decisions.
The Saudis have already received 72 machines in recent years and have had an option for at least 48 more for several years. They now want to pull this – with the support of the British and against the will of the federal government. The traffic light coalition has excluded arms deliveries to the kingdom in the coalition agreement.
This is understandable for ethical reasons: Saudi Arabia is at the center of a region that could not be more unstable. Riyadh has actively participated in the war in Yemen, and the government is suspected of brutally executing critic Jamal Kashoggi. On the other hand, there is Saudi Arabia, which was on a reconciliation course with Israel before the recent Hamas massacre.
Germany has to decide: maintain principles or keep partners
There is a lot at stake for Germany: If the traffic light coalition sticks to its
rejection of the delivery of more Eurofighters to Saudi Arabia , the German
arms industry is threatened with isolation in Europe. This applies in particular to the projects planned with France for the new tank (MGCS) and the new fighter aircraft (FCAS).
The European partners want to know whether we are serious about investing significantly more money in our defense and remaining technologically somewhat sovereign over the USA. Or whether we would rather continue to rely on others and not export weapons outside Europe at the price of our own defense capability. Because in the end that is the choice.
Germany must decide: maintain its own principles and not send weapons to areas of tension. There are good reasons to reject the export of more Eurofighters to Saudi Arabia. But that is not the only question here. Germany's credibility as a partner in Europe is at stake. Cooperation with France and Great Britain on arms issues is vitally important. Nobody knows how long the USA will guarantee Europe's security.
In the case of Saudi Arabia, this means: If the kingdom takes on a moderating and constructive role in the current Middle East crisis, then the federal government should reconsider its position and not block the Eurofighter delivery.
