Germany’s rearmament problem isn’t money. It’s time.

Germany’s defence spending surge collides with an industrial base that cannot yet deliver at scale.

Dear Reader,

It is an astonishing list. Thirty major new arms purchases, signed off on a single day just before Christmas, for the breath-taking sum of €50 billion.

Torpedoes for the newest class of submarines; modernisation and expansion of the US-made Patriot missile system; Arrow missiles to build on the high-tech Israeli air-defence system that went into operation in northern Germany in the autumn; a weather-proof satellite reconnaissance system costing €2 billion.

The shopping list goes on.

“When we tell our people and our allies that they can rely on us, we mean it,” Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said after the procurement package received the thumbs-up from the Bundestag’s budgetary committee.

At last, the Zeitenwende appears to be picking up speed.

On closer inspection though, things aren’t as positive as they appear. The core problem in German defence policy is no longer political will. Nor, is it financing. Germany has crossed both thresholds. Much more troubling is the aspect …