OUR Germany must quickly order new Leopard tanks to replace those that will be transferred UkraineDefense Minister Boris Pistorius said today, adding that he doesn’t care where the money comes from.

“For me, the critical fact is that we must order new tanks not in a year, but quickly so that production can begin,” Pistorius told reporters during a visit to an armored battalion in the western city of Augustdorf, which was selected to deliver 14 tanks. Leopard 2 in Kyiv.

“Where will the money come from? To be honest, I don’t care. It is important that we get them (tanks) quickly,” Pistorius said.

The minister was answering a question about whether he was pushing for an increase in a special fund of 100 billion euros created to modernize the armed forces after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The goal is to speed up the supply of weapons

Pistorius said he had his first talks with defense industry executives on Tuesday, but declined to elaborate.

“It was necessary to understand who can do what and what both sides expect from each other,” he said, adding that an agreement was reached to meet regularly in the future.

The German defense minister intends to speed up arms purchases and boost ammunition supplies in the long term after almost a year of arms transfers to Ukraine depleted Germany’s military stockpiles.

Even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Germany was 20 billion euros short of NATO’s munitions stockpile target.

Asked about calls for the resumption of conscription, which was suspended in 2011 in part to save money, Pistorius said such a move would not fill a short-term manpower shortage in the Bundeswehr, Germany’s armed forces.

“The suspension of military service was a mistake, but not one that we can quickly correct. We have other issues that need to be addressed right now that will cost a lot of money, time and energy, and addressing them is my priority.”

^{Source: APE-MEB, Reuters}