German defence minister Pistorius: this will be a foreign military sales procedure

German defence minister Pistorius: this will be a foreign military sales procedure

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is set to hold talks with his US counterpart in Washington on July 02, 2025. The meeting is expected to focus on several key issues, including foreign military sales and the future of US arms supplies to Ukraine. Pistorius will seek clarity on the US administration's stance on arms supplies and the deployment of long-range missiles to Germany.

According to Pistorius, Germany will not be able to provide Ukraine with more Patriot air defense systems, as the country has only six left [2]. The minister has stated that Berlin does not plan to supply Kyiv with Taurus long-range missiles either. Pistorius will discuss a "road map" for US security support in Europe and the issue of US Patriot air defense systems for Ukraine with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth [2].

The meeting comes at a time when Germany has emerged as a key player in NATO's largest military build-up since the Cold War. The country has loosened its constitutional debt brake to meet NATO's new core military spending target of 3.5% of national output by 2029, boosting German defense spending to 162 billion euros ($189 billion) in 2029 from 95 billion euros in the draft budget for 2025 [3].

Pistorius will also seek clarity on whether Washington remains committed to temporarily deploying long-range missiles to Germany from 2026, as agreed under former President Joe Biden. The deployment would include systems such as Tomahawk cruise missiles with a range of 1,800 kilometers (1,118 miles) and the developmental hypersonic weapon Dark Eagle with a range of around 3,000 km [3].

The meeting is crucial as European allies remain uneasy about the new US administration's unpredictable stance on arms supplies. On Tuesday, Trump said he had approved sending defensive weapons to Ukraine and was considering additional sanctions on Moscow, just days after the Pentagon halted shipments of critical arms to Ukraine [3].

Reference List:
[1] https://www.facebook.com/deutschewellenews/posts/german-defense-minister-boris-pistorius-is-set-to-hold-talks-with-his-us-counter/1165291375626175/
[2] https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2025/07/14/7521593/
[3] https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/german-minister-press-hegseth-arms-050306810.html