To all those now worrying that we are on the way to a Fourth Reich! Fear not! I'm sure the money will be wasted and squandered just as it was for the last 20 years. Even though Germany was often criticized for its small spending on the military, lets not forget that due to the large GDP, the spending in absolute terms is not that meager: 50 billion Euros per year! That is only about 15-20% less than Russia.

What has it gotten us? A completely dysfunctional army with almost no working equipment. The part that is working is in large part outdated. As the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany pointed out, the Ukrainians have already destroyed more Russian tanks and armored vehicles and jets than the whole Bundeswehr currently has in working condition.

Just as in many Western militaries, the procurement is so f*ked up that most of the money is spent on the development of new weapon systems so at the end of the day, no money seems to be left to actually buy any. The US seems to compensate by just spending even more money. Germany just didn't buy anything and the soldiers are driving around in Wolfs (G wagons! Sans the louis vuitton leather seats, though) from the 70s and can hardly keep more than a handful of their jets in flying condition.