BERLIN: Germany is hoping to expand defense industry ties with the United States and produce more US-designed weaponry at factories in the country, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Wednesday.
The pitch comes just ahead of a major NATO summit scheduled for July 7-8 in Turkiye, where European military expansion will remain in focus as US President Donald Trump puts pressure on allies to spend more.
“We know that American production capacities are limited and that there is an urgent need to expand,” Pistorius told reporters alongside Chancellor Friedrich Merz and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who had been invited to join a cabinet meeting in Berlin.
“That is why we are very interested in manufacturing certain systems, or components of systems, here in Germany,” Pistorius added.
Demand for key American weaponry — particularly missiles and interceptors like the Patriot system — has surged amid wars and global crises, and stockpiles are running low for weapons that have seen heavy use in Ukraine and the Middle East.
