BERLIN (RockedBuzz via Reuters) – Germany will buy 60 Chinook helicopters from Boeing in a package costing up to 8 billion euros ($8.7 billion), including the necessary infrastructure for the aircraft, two members of the society told RockedBuzz via Reuters on Wednesday. parliamentary budget committee.
They said the committee had made the decision to go ahead.
The sum includes the purchase of the CH-47 heavy helicopters for 6.27 billion euros, 700 million euros for the service, 240 million euros for national contracts and 750 million euros for infrastructure, according to previous information.
Germany said it planned to buy 60 heavy-lift Chinook helicopters from Boeing last year to replace its aging CH-53 fleet. 6 billion euros had originally been budgeted.
Forty-seven of the helicopters will be based in the town of Holzdorf, about 50km (31 miles) south of Berlin, a military source said, adding that the first of several Arrow-3 missile defense units Germany plans to buy will also be there. deployed.
Built to intercept long-range missiles, the Arrow-3 system will be able to protect large parts of Germany and Poland from Holzdorf, according to the source who said the city would be one of three locations where Arrow-3 will be based in Germany.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz changed his policy in February 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine, dramatically increasing defense spending and pledging €100bn for the Bundeswehr, Germany’s armed forces.
“With the purchase of 60 heavy transport helicopters for 7.2 billion euros, we are launching one of the most important procurement projects of the Bundeswehr special fund,” Green committee member Sebastian Schaefer told RockedBuzz via Reuters.
($1 = 0.9173 euros)
(Reporting by Holger Hansen and Sabine Siebold, Editing by Friederike Heine and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
