Nearly four years after Russia’s full‑scale invasion of Ukraine, Germany is transforming its armed forces and defense policy — reversing decades of low spending and limited ambition rooted in the country’s 20th‑century history.
A zeitenwende, or turning point, declared by then‑Chancellor Olaf Scholz after the 2022 invasion has become policy. Germany set up a special 100 billion euro fund to jump‑start rearmament, and annual defense spending is projected to rise dramatically through 2029. The government has moved to exempt defense spending from the constitutional “debt brake,” and successive political leaders have signaled a new readiness to play a leading role in European security. Conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz, elected in 2024, has kept Social Democrat Boris Pistorius as defense minister; Pistorius reports surging interest in military service and is overseeing a large expansion and modernization effort.
On the ground, the Bundeswehr has resumed intensive recruiting and training. Basic training squads at the Münster Army Base are running demanding drills, and the defense ministry reported a 23% uptick in enlistments year‑over‑year. The ministry aims to add roughly 75,000 active‑duty troops to its all‑volunteer force by 2035. Because many young Germans remain reluctant to bear arms — a legacy of World War II that shows up in polls of 15‑ to 25‑year‑olds — Berlin has not ruled out reintroducing mandatory service if volunteer numbers fall short.
The war in Ukraine, along with pressure from U.S. policymakers urging Europe to shoulder more of its own defense, has reshaped public debate. Pistorius, speaking about the threat from Moscow, has warned Germany to be ready by the end of the decade and set 2029 as an objective for deterrence capabilities. Russia’s rebuilding of its armed forces has been cited repeatedly by German officials as the immediate driver of urgency.
Money is flowing into equipment, industry and innovation. Traditional defense contractors are scaling up: Rheinmetall, a historic German arms firm, has expanded across Europe and won key contracts to supply armored vehicles, ammunition and digitized systems. Armin Papperger, Rheinmetall’s CEO, describes the company’s rapid growth as part of a broader NATO rearmament. He noted that European nations must be prepared to take more responsibility, saying that America’s willingness to guarantee security can no longer be assumed.
Germany is also investing in new technologies. Startups and established firms alike are developing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) drones after seeing how unmanned systems reshaped battlefield dynamics in Ukraine. Quantum‑Systems in Berlin, which has facilities in Germany and Ukraine, secured a major Bundeswehr contract worth roughly 25 million euros to deliver hundreds of ISR drones. Company leaders point to early successes in Ukraine — including thermal‑camera equipped drones that helped detect and stop Russian crossings — as proof of the value of distributed drone fleets.
The defense ministry has shown interest in unconventional research as well. A small German startup, SWARM Biotactics, has been funded to test whether Madagascar hissing cockroaches can be fitted with tiny backpacks containing sensors and steered by electronics for limited reconnaissance tasks. The work is experimental and raised eyebrows, but officials say it reflects a broader effort to explore autonomy, intelligence systems and low‑cost ways to multiply battlefield sensors amid concerns about manpower and materiel compared with Russia’s production.
At the strategic level, Germany has moved beyond the passive posture of the post‑Cold War “peace dividend.” Berlin sent an armored brigade of about 5,000 troops — the Bundeswehr’s 45th — on a permanent deployment to Lithuania, reinforcing NATO’s eastern flank and marking Germany’s first permanent combat‑ready brigade abroad since World War II. Defense planners emphasize deterrence and the ability to support allies, while increasing investment across air, land, sea and space capabilities. The defense budget is expected to grow substantially through 2029, with purchases of modernized vehicles, munitions, air defense and digital systems.
Yet the transformation faces challenges. The Bundeswehr still struggles with personnel shortages and recruiting hurdles rooted in history, social attitudes and career competition. Modernization programs are expensive and complex, and German defense industry capacity, while reviving, must scale quickly to meet demand. Observers warn that procurement bottlenecks, training capacity limits and the time needed to field advanced systems will constrain how rapidly Berlin can restore robust conventional capabilities.
The shift is also political and cultural. Germany’s Holocaust remembrance and postwar pacifism shaped decades of caution about military power. For many, the renewed emphasis on defense has been a difficult but necessary recalibration in the face of a changed security environment. Lawmakers debated excusing the 100 billion euro fund from fiscal limits, and parliamentary decisions reflect a growing consensus that preserving democracy, freedom of expression and the ability to rally in public life requires credible defense.
Soldiers speaking during training deployments and public recruitments say younger recruits increasingly understand the stakes, citing Russia’s aggression as a driver of their decision to serve. Defence minister Pistorius, and other officials, argue that a willingness to defend fundamental liberties is a prerequisite for preserving them, a message that forms part of the campaign to rebuild Germany’s armed forces after decades of diminished readiness.
As Germany accelerates investment and rearmament, it is trying to balance moral unease about militarism with what leaders cast as sober realism about threats and the need for credible deterrence. The coming years will test whether the country can scale personnel, industry and new technologies fast enough to meet the timelines officials set while maintaining public support for a larger, more assertive defense posture.