A German defense ministry spokesperson on Friday denied a report claiming that it has plans to procure 15 additional F-35 fighters jets.
"The defense ministry currently has no plans to procure additional F-35s beyond the 35 F-35s already contractually agreed," the spokesperson said at a regular news conference.
Politico reported earlier the same day, citing several people familiar with the matter, that Germany had plans to buy the warplanes. This move would increase the country's planned fleet of US-made jets to 50.
The report comes amid tensions between Germany and France on the joint Franco-German fighter jet FCAS partnership, after a report earlier this week that France now wants a workshare of 80%.
The demand would scrap the agreed division of tasks and possibly stop the project from entering its next phase, an industry source told Reuters.
The reported German order would also align with an agreement between NATO allies to raise their collective spending goal to 5% of output over the next decade, citing the long-term threat posed by Russia and the need to strengthen civil and military resilience.
A spokesperson for the German Defence Ministry said it generally did not comment "on possible procurement plans before they have gone through parliament."
An updated and growing arsenal
So far, Germany has ordered 35 F-35s to replace a total of 85 aging Tornado fighter jets that will be decommissioned.
A military source told Reuters that the figure of 15 additional F-35 jets had been part of previous considerations, but that the numbers needed to be adapted after NATO's new targets for weapons and troop numbers.
The new targets suggest the initial figure was not large enough and the actual number of additional F-35s needed might be bigger in the end, although the source would not confirm this.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Wednesday that differences remained on the configuration of the FCAS project, which has been plagued by delays and infighting over workshare and intellectual property rights.