The German Defense Ministry warned that reducing purchases of American weapons could damage relations with Washington.
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The warning came in internal documents seen by Politico, amid Berlin’s heavy reliance on the US military system despite its stated intention to strengthen independence in defense projects.
More than a third of Germany’s imports of major weapons systems come from the United States, including F-35 fighter jets, Chinook helicopters and Patriot air defense systems.
The documents indicate that "the materials include a warning that an outright withdrawal could harm the transatlantic partnership and deprive German industry of a role in the production of American weapons."
The United States views Germany's move towards greater independence in defense projects with reservation, according to the magazine.
Meanwhile, doubts are growing within German military circles regarding Washington's reliability as a partner. This is due to delays in some US military shipments to Europe caused by the conflict in the Middle East, as well as a shortage of Patriot missiles.
The German Defense Ministry is warning the leadership in Berlin against openly severing transatlantic ties. According to the magazine, German officials fear that the White House would respond with harsh economic sanctions, and that German industry would lose lucrative contracts in joint production and maintenance of American military systems.
The European Commission has previously set a target of increasing the share of European weapons in the defense budgets of EU countries from the current 15% to 50% by 2030.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that NATO, through increasing its military budgets, is pushing towards global militarization and an arms race. He added that the West is using false claims about what it calls a Russian threat in order to extract money from taxpayers and justify its economic mistakes.
