Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Boris Pistorius, Germany's defense minister, met today at the Pentagon to discuss NATO 3.0, increased European defense spending and the defense industrial bases of both nations.
"We're here to take another strong step in advancing our defense industrial cooperation between the United States and Germany," Hegseth said.
Last year at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Hegseth said allied nations must spend more on defense; President Donald J. Trump set the bar at 5% of gross domestic product. He added that increases in troop readiness, weapons production and force contributions were also needed.
Hegseth, who calls the proposed changes NATO 3.0, said Germany has been "front and center" in making them happen.
"Today, we see major progress that no one would have thought possible," he said. "Germany today is moving closer to fulfilling the 5% — leading the way on the spending commitment it made at the Hague Summit last year — but as we talked about, defense spending is just the first step."
The secretary noted that increasing defense production on both sides of the Atlantic is essential.
"NATO 3.0 will also require putting Germany's very large and historic industrial base to work for the common defense," Hegseth said. "It's the same thing that we're doing right here, as I and members of our team travel across the country; as we rebuild our arsenal of freedom."
The arsenal of freedom plan, Hegseth said, aims to reindustrialize the U.S., rebuild American manufacturing, manufacture American-made products and create American jobs.
The two civilian military leaders signed an agreement that, Hegseth said, aligns the War Department's acquisition transformation strategy with Germany's Procurement Acceleration Act.
"When we align the two, you expand opportunities for joint development, production, licensed manufacturing, and expanded maintenance and sustainment capacities — exactly what allied countries should be doing," he said. "The objective is straightforward: Deliver capable systems to American, German and allied forces, at scale and at speed for maximum lethality."
Pistorius highlighted Germany's immense increase in defense spending and said it's on board with the NATO 3.0 vision and with balancing out the burden of defending the NATO alliance.
"Germany is strengthening its defense capabilities and acts as a driving force in Europe," he said. "We Europeans want to take some of the burden off the U.S. and assume primary responsibility for conventional deterrence in Europe."
The German defense minister noted that since last year, Germany has increased defense spending by 25%, equivalent to about $147 billion.
"We are investing in new state-of-the-art weapon systems here in the U.S.; we are assuming a leading role within NATO and, when it comes to providing support to Ukraine, we are strengthening NATO's eastern flank, particularly through our armored brigade in Lithuania," he said.
He also highlighted German investments in technology, including space and deep-precision strike capabilities. Later this week, Germany will also roll out its first F-35A aircraft.
The U.S.-Germany agreement, he said, will help Germany become an even stronger NATO partner than it has been for more than 70 years.
"It creates a strong basis for closer armament cooperation between our two nations with one clear aim: increasing our production capacity," Pistorius said.
He added that the NATO alliance must feature stronger European leadership to survive, and Germany will play a big part in that.
"NATO needs to become more European in order to stay transatlantic," he said. "Burden shifting is progressing. Together with our allies, we are working towards a stronger Europe and a stronger NATO. And together with our American friends, we are working on strengthening our common defense and resilience."
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