US and German Defense Ministers Sign Letter of Intent to Intensify Bilateral Defense Industrial Cooperation
The U.S. Department of Defense announced yesterday that its Secretary, Pete Hegseth, and his German counterpart, Boris Pistorius, signed a “statement of intent” at the department’s headquarters to significantly intensify bilateral cooperation in the defense industrial sector.
Department spokesperson Sean Barnhill said the agreement came during a meeting held by the two ministers on Tuesday to discuss “ways to enhance bilateral cooperation in the defense industrial sector and strengthen collective deterrence within the framework of the North Atlantic Alliance’s (NATO 3.0) initiative, under which European allies assume primary responsibility for Europe’s conventional defense.”
Barnhill noted that Hegseth called during the meeting for “forces with high combat effectiveness, robust production lines, and the capacity to ramp up production when needed to support the continuity of conventional defense.”
He also highlighted that the U.S. Secretary of Defense praised “the momentum Germany is showing in meeting its commitment to spend 2 percent of its GDP on defense,” emphasizing that “these expenditures must be directly translated into tangible combat readiness and actual industrial capabilities.”
Hegseth was quoted expressing his belief that Germany constitutes a fundamental traditional pillar in Europe and strengthens the entire Alliance through its industrial capabilities, an active manufacturing base, and an enhanced military force.
He reported that the two ministers signed the “statement of intent” aimed at “significantly intensifying defense industrial cooperation in line with the U.S. expansion of the ‘Arsenal of Freedom’ initiative,” a step he described as “an important milestone in the trajectory of bilateral security cooperation.”
He further noted that both sides agreed to “align the U.S. Department of Defense’s ‘Operational Acquisition Transformation Strategy’ with Germany’s ‘Procurement Acceleration Act’ and its ‘Security and Defense Industry Strategy,’ with the goal of expanding joint development and production, licensed manufacturing, and maintenance capabilities.”
The two ministers also pledged to “work on removing regulatory barriers and export control bottlenecks to ensure the rapid delivery of lethal combat systems to U.S. and German forces, as well as allied forces, in quantities that meet operational requirements.”
