Aviation Week editors discuss how Europe is reshaping its military and commercial aviation sectors amid growing security concerns.

Why German Aerospace Is Booming

Aviation Week's Check 6 Podcast

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** Aviation Week's Check 6 Podcast

## Participants

- **Joe Anselmo** (Aviation Week)
- **Robert Wall** (Aviation Week Network)
- **Jens Flottau** (Aviation Week Network)

## Transcript

Welcome to the Check 6 Podcast. I'm Joe Anselmo, Aviation Week's Editor-in-Chief. If you've been in the aerospace industry a long time but have never been to the ILA Airshow in Berlin, you're not alone. ILA has taken a backseat to more prominent airshows such as Paris, Farnborough, Dubai, and Singapore. But this year's ILA, which opens on June 10th, is one to keep an eye on.

That's because Germany has put its defense modernization push into overdrive as it looks to bolster its armed forces before the end of the decade. Part of the urgency is a growing feeling across Europe that it can no longer count on the U.S. to protect it against Russian aggression, concerns that had been amplified by scornful remarks from American politicians. Joining me to discuss this is Robert Wall, Aviation Week's London-based Executive Editor for Defense in Space.

Robert is the author of Germany Rearms, the cover story in the June 1st edition of Aviation Week magazine. And Germany, of course, also plays a major role in the commercial aerospace industry. Executive Editor Jens Flottau joins us from Frankfurt to discuss that angle. Robert, let's kick off with you. I talked about growth. How much growth are we talking about? Yeah, Joe, I mean, the budget numbers are pretty stunning in Germany.

And they're kind of becoming more and more stunning as we go. Germany was spending less than 50 billion euros on defense in 2021. And they're looking to get to over 160 billion euros by 2029. And 2029 is an important date for Germany because they think they need to be ready to deal with a potential attack from Russia on parts of NATO. So it's a big number that they're spending.

And in fact, the number is just going up. Just last week, they said they're going to put another 30 billion into the out-year spending plan. So the numbers are pretty stunning. It's drawing a lot of interest. It's drawing a lot of industrial activity. And as you alluded to, a lot of that industrial activity is really focused on the home market because there are concerns about the reliability of the U.S. as a long-term supplier.

So I think it's an important event at ILA for the German industry to show their home market, that they are scaling up, they are ready to deliver. It's probably also an important event for U.S. companies that may have to show up there or need to show there that they are, in fact, a reliable partner and that the rhetoric out of Washington is maybe not something that speaks for the entire country. And you point out that those are pretty staggering increases.

The European defense industrial base obviously can't ramp up that quickly. So there's got to be opportunity for non-European suppliers to sell into Germany. Yeah, I mean, that is in a way the saving grace for the U.S....

Why German Aerospace Is Booming

Transcript

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Why German Aerospace Is Booming

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.