On average, the Bundeswehr's 19 most important armaments projects are completed more than five years later and cost 13.4 billion euros more than originally planned. This emerges from the new Armaments Report of the Ministry of Defense, which is available to the German Press Agency.

Compared with the previous March report, the delay has increased from 54 to 62 months. The Ministry attributes this primarily to the fact that three weapons systems with below-average time delays are no longer listed in the statistics.

The additional costs rose significantly from 11.6 to 13.4 billion euros in March. This is justified by the Ministry with more expensive and larger services in the transport helicopter NH90 and the armored infantry "Puma", which cost 1.4 billion euros.

The Ministry has been producing armaments reports every six months since 2015, the current one being the eighth. The first report found an average delay of four years and a cost increase of € 12.9 billion. However, the values ​​are not comparable one to one, because again projects are taken from the statistics and new ones are added.

However, one can safely say that the delay has increased in some of the biggest problem cases:

  • In 2015, the transport aircraft A400M was eight years and eleven months late. For 2021, the ministry expects eleven years and seven months.
  • Nevertheless, the A400M is not the late leader. The fighter jet "Eurofighter" is at 12 years and nine months even more unpunctual. In 2015 there were eleven years and four months left.

But there are also improvements:

  • The combat helicopter "Tiger" was nine years in 2015 and two months late. Now it is only six years and eight months.

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Photo gallery: Long wait for A400M and "Eurofighter"

In the cost increases, the armored infantry "Puma" is 50 percent (1.62 billion euros) before the frigate 125 with 46 percent (1.01 billion euros) and the "Eurofighter" with 38 percent (6.7 billion euros). The causes of the additional costs are not always with the manufacturers, but are often justified in the Bundeswehr's requests for improvement.

But there is an armaments project that stands out in a positive way. It was only decided this year and comes from the US manufacturer Lockheed Martin: The transport aircraft C130-J "Hercules" is due to be delivered in 2021 eight months earlier than contractually stipulated.