Bavarian premier wants tens of thousands of tanks, drones, missiles
In response to the new international security situation, the premier of the southern German state of Bavaria, Markus Söder, is calling for a massive upgrade of the German Armed Forces, the Bundeswehr.
"The Bundeswehr needs full equipment. This includes a drone army with 100,000 drones, 800 new tanks, as well as 2,000 Patriots and 1,000 Tauruses just for Germany, as a protective shield similar to [Israel's] 'Iron Dome,'" Söder, who is also leader of the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) party, told Sunday's edition of Die Welt newspaper seen in advance by dpa.
Söder stated that the long-range Taurus cruise missiles are "the most important precision weapon" Germany possesses. Patriots are a US anti-aircraft missile system, and the Iron Dome is a system for intercepting rockets, artillery and mortar shells.
Söder emphasized that it was a very convincing idea by Friedrich Merz, the man set to become Germany's next chancellor and leader of the CSU's sister party the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), "to additionally establish a nuclear European shield." He asserted this could be provided by France and the United Kingdom and supported by Germany.
"Only those who are economically and militarily strong are taken seriously internationally," Söder said.
He claimed that it has been clear since the Munich Security Conference and the foreign policy reorientation of the United States since Donald Trump returned to the White House that Europe, and thus Germany, must do more for its own defence. "We need to massively strengthen the Bundeswehr and invest at least 3% of GDP for this purpose."
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