Germans Debate Need for New High-Tech Fighter Jets

The Eurofighter deal is one of the largest defense projects in Germany. The first four aircraft -- at a price of 74 million euros ($94 million) each -- landed at the air force base in Bavaria's Neuburg an der Donau this week.

The European aerospace group EADS will deliver 180 fighter jets over the next few years to Germany in a contract totaling over 21 billion euros. These will form the backbone of the country's air defense, replacing the Phantom aircraft.

But this controversial acquisition by the German armed forces or Bundeswehr, has long been the focus of criticism. When the Eurofighter Typhoon was developed 25 years ago, the world still looked very different. It was the Cold War; the Warsaw Pact still existed.

War scenarios at the time were still based on the assumption that western Europe could be attacked from the East. So a fighter jet was planned that could compete with the Russian MiG aircraft. Now, air battles over Europe are scenarios from the past.

Contribute to soldiers' safety abroad

In view of the changed situation in the world, it has become controversial whether the German armed forces even really need 180 fighter jets. And how should they be deployed?

"I think the general security situation shows that the number of Eurofighters is absolutely necessary," said Bernd Siebert, defense spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU). "They will be a significant part of ensuring our soldiers' safety on foreign deployments."

He said German soldiers increasingly face dangerous situations during their missions abroad. The German armed forces long ago changed from an army for national defense to a mobile deployment force, operating worldwide on peacekeeping missions.

"If I look at the development in Afghanistan, I can imagine that it will become necessary to deploy our Eurofighters for intelligence and for protecting our soldiers, which have gotten into trouble," Siebert said.

Opposition: not needed for peacekeeping

The opposition Green Party fought against the Eurofighter for a long time, as it considered the billion-euro defense project to be outdated. It doesn't agree with the conservatives on the purpose of the deal.

"In all of the conflicts in which the Bundeswehr is deployed under a UN mandate or with an alliance, there isn't one single case where a weapons system such as the Eurofighter is needed," said Andreas Bonde, the Green's defense spokesman.

He added it was an instrument required for warfare between highly armed nations.

"But in our missions today, where it's about nation building and stabilization measures, we don't need weapons systems like this," Bonde said.

No longer meeting the Bundeswehr's needs

Both the CDU and the Greens agree that the Eurofighter should be deployed for a very clear purpose within Germany's borders, namely in air surveillance or "air policing."

"But we don't need 180 of them for that," Bonde said. He said there were military strategists who believed there would be a return to national defense, with the classic threatening scenario of highly armed old-fashioned war between nations.

"I luckily consider this scenario to be unrealistic and in this respect, I have serious doubts that security policy investments are being made in a meaningful direction with this defense system," Bonde said.