German arms exports this year amounted to more than €8 billion, with more than a quarter of the country's manufactured weapons shipped to Ukraine, Belga News Agency has reported.
According to preliminary information recently released by Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Germany exported a total of €8.35 billion worth of arms this year — the country's second highest ever recorded amount — of which €2.24 billion was sent to Ukraine. The exported weapons include anti-aircraft tanks, multiple rocket launchers, howitzers, and the IRIS-T air defence system.
The significant weapons sales follow German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's famous announcement of a 'Zeitenwende', or turning point, three days after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February. Scholz promised €100 billion in additional funding to modernise and replenish Germany's armed forces and to alter the country's previously restrained defence policy, which it had diligently pursued ever since its defeat in World War Two.
The radical upheaval in Germany's foreign policy and newly-adopted unconstrained approach to weapons exports mean that, even without its significant arms shipments to Ukraine, total German weapons exports would have exceeded €6 billion this year — a figure Germany reached only five times throughout the course of previous Chancellor Angela Merkel's 16 years in power.
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In addition to Ukraine, purchasers of German weapons include the Netherlands (€1.83 billion), United States (€863.7 million), United Kingdom (€453 million), Hungary (€249.2 million), Australia (€196.1 million), Singapore (€175.1 million) and South Korea (€166.5 million).
Germany is now responsible for 4.5% of global weapons exports, making it the world's fifth largest arms exporter after the US, Russia, France and China. It is also the fourth biggest supplier of weapons to Ukraine, after the US, the UK, and Poland.
Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action noted that the official figures for Germany's arms exports for 2022 will be announced in January.
