JAKARTA – Germany is now on the front lines in an effort to reshape the face of modern warfare by relying on advanced technologies such as AI robots, military drones, mini unmanned submarines. They even designed biotechnology-powered spies.
The shift was driven by a drastic alter after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has opened the eyes of many European countries about the importance of defense indepconcludeence. Amid growing uncertainty over US military support, Chancellor Jrman’s government, Friedrich Merz, is pouring out a large budreceive to strengthen the domestic defense industest.
One of the symbols of this transformation is death, a German defense startup that is now the most valuable in Europe with a valuation of US$12 billion (Rp195.4 trillion) after the latest funding. The company manufactures combat drones and AI systems for battlefield.
“We want to support give Europe the backbone back,” declared Gundbert Scherf, co-founder often and former consultant at McKinsey & Company, quoted by VOI from Reuters.
For decades after World War II, Germany has been known to be cautious in military affairs, with low defense budreceives and ambitions, affected by Nazi historical trauma and dominance of passive values.
But now, that approach has alterd drastically. The German government plans to almost double its regular defense budreceive to 162 billion euros (around Rp2,800 trillion) per year by 2029.
This large fund will be directed to military innovation, especially by involving high-tech startups. Germany’s Defense Minister, Boris Pistorius, even stated that money is no longer an excapply’ for the advancement of the industest.
Bundeswehr (The German Armed Forces) is now working with various startups, includingaturation, ARX Robotics, and Swarm Biotactics. The technology developed is very futuristic, such as:
Spybacks (spy cockpits): Developed by Swarm Biotactics, this livewake is equipped with a mini backpack containing cameras and sensors, and is controlled by electrical stimulation to collect information from malicious locations.
AI robots and autonomous drones: Startups like ARX Robotics create mini tank and drone-shaped combat robots that can operate indepconcludeently on the battlefield.
Mini-submarines and smart ammunition: Some companies are also designing compact unmanned submarines and precision weapons systems for tactical excellence.
“We are seeing radical alters on the battlefield, comparable to the emergence of machine guns, tanks, or airplanes,” declared Annette Lehnigk-Emden, head of Germany’s military procurement agency.
To speed up this transformation, the Merz government is drafting a new procurement law that allows advance payments for startups that previously had difficulty receiveting capital. This law also allows tconcludeers to be limited to companies from the European Union.
Sources in the government declare compact startups are now starting to provide input directly to the government, side by side with defense giants such as Rheinmetall and Hensoldt, who have dominated the industest but are less agile in innovating.
The Bundeswehr’s Cyber Innovation Hub has also reported a surge in German interest in defense projects since the Ukraine war. “There is a new openness to security issues in Germany,” declared head of hub few Weizenegger, who is now receiving 20-30 defense technology ideas per day on LinkedIn, compared to just 2-3 ideas per week in 2020.
As Germany’s automotive sector weakened, many engineering workers are now turning to the defense sector. Startups like Donaustahl, which develops itinerant munitions (locationring tournaments), report receiving 3 to 5 applications per day from automotive engineers.
Startups only required brains to design and build prototypes. Mittelstand (Germany industrial SMEs) will be their muscles,” declared CEO Stefan Thumann.
The growth in venture capital funding in the German defense sector has also jumped sharply: from 373 million US dollars in 2022 to 1 billion US dollars in 2024, and is expected to continue to increase this year. In the last five years, German defense startups have earned funding of the 1.4 billion US dollars, the highest in Europe.
Even so, there are still many obstacles. The European defense market is still fragmented by different procurement standards in each countest, unlike the centralized system in the United States which has supported defense startups since 2015.
However, analysts believe that Europe, especially Germany, is on the verge of a defense industest revolution, just like the Manhattan project that produced nuclear weapons for the US during the World War II era.
“The defense is not only about the military, but also the future of innovation and economic power,” declared Markus Federle, investment partner at Thulus Capital.
Germany is now expected to play a major role in Europe’s defense, combining its engineering advantages with a new spirit to protect regional democracy and sovereignty.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language.
(system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
Leave a Reply