Germany Informs US Regarding Purchase of 45 Boeing Fighters
German Defense Minister has Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer reportedly informed Mark Esper, US Secretary of Defense, regarding its plan to acquire 30 F/A-18 Super Hornets and 15 EA-18G Growlers for Luftwaffe.
The German minister emailed her US counterpart informing him of its decision on Thursday, Der Spiegel magazine reported on April 19.
“While we continue to await an official announcement, we remain committed to working in support of both the German and U.S. governments on this important procurement,” a spokesman for Chicago-based Boeing said to Bloomberg via email.
Ursula von der Leyen, Kramp-Karrenbauer’s predecessor had proposed to buy a combination of US fighters and Airbus-built Eurofighter Typhoon jets.
Plans to buy 45 Boeing aircraft and 90 Eurofighter jets replace Luftwaffe’s ageing Tornados were first revealed by German publication Handelsblatt in November 2019.
The fighters are to enter the German Air Force from 2025 and last till 2040 after which the air force combat requirement would be met by the Franco-German Future Combat Air System (FCAS) sixth generation jet.
While the F/A-18 was selected because it can carry nuclear bombs, Growlers were chosen for their electronic attack capability, the Handelsblatt report said.
Airbus has been lobbying hard for Germany to buy the Eurofighter. It has even commenced a program to test armaments and systems which would go into the future FCAS. One of which is the Eurofighter Electronic Combat Role (ECR) revealed in November last year.
Initial Eurofighter ECR capability is expected to be available by 2026, followed by further development steps and full integration into the FCAS ecosystems. The Eurofighter ECR offers electronic attack (EA) and suppression/destruction of enemy air defence (SEAD/DEAD).
As an advantage over the US-made Boeing FA-18 ‘Growler’, Airbus says the latest national escort jammer technology will ensure national control over features such as mission data and data analysis.
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