German Cabinet Green lights FCAS Funding among Major Procurements in 2022 Budget

The Future Combat Aircraft System (FCAS), a pan-European arms cooperation project, the Class 212 Common Design submarine besides the Naval Strike Missile Block 1A will be implemented following budget approvals in the 2022 budget.

On June 23, the Federal Cabinet in Berlin approved the government draft for the federal budget for 2022 and the federal financial plan up to 2025. The growth in defense spending is expected to continue, with the budget totaling 50.3 billion euros in 2022. In this way, important armaments projects in particular can be carried out, a German MoD statement said June 23.

In 2022, the defense budget is expected to increase by around 3.4 billion euros compared to 2021 to around 50.3 billion euros. The planned defense budget for 2022, for which the cabinet has now given the green light, is characterized by increases in almost all expenditure areas compared to the budget for 2021.

The 2022 budget can meet the needs of the Bundeswehr, particularly in the areas of armaments procurement and digitization. The budget enables ongoing, important armaments projects to be continued. In addition, the financing of all armaments projects that have been submitted to the budget committee of the German Bundestag for today's resolution is guaranteed.

Besides the major procurements, the PEGASUS (Persistent German Airborne Surveillance System) project can be advanced, the outdated fleet service boats are to be replaced; and  the procurement of additional aircraft for anti-submarine defense is planned.

At the end of the legislative period, the draft for the budget year 2022 is subject to "discontinuity". This means that after the Bundestag election in September, the new federal government must adopt a new, so-called second government draft and introduce it into the parliamentary legislative process. As a result, the German Bundestag will probably not be able to finally discuss and adopt the 2022 budget until mid-2022.

Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer pointed out in her third keynote address on June 18, 2021 at the command academy of the Bundeswehr “in view of new, modern threats, massive investments must be made in the most modern defense. Defense will be much more expensive in the future because it will be much more demanding.”