The ministry announced the planned €2.5bn increase next year was “insufficient” considering the “massive” need to modernise the Bundeswehr, Germany’s unified armed forces and their civil administration and procurement authorities.
Defence chiefs will have to scrap at least “one big international arms project” in 2019 if a greater increase in budget negotiations is not secured.
This comes as US president Donald Trump has repeatedly criticised Germany for not contributing enough to its defence, and for free-riding on Washington’s military budget.
In talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel in Washington last week, Mr Trump said: “We’re protecting Europe and yet we pay far more than anybody else.”
There has been growing concern about the poor state of the Bundeswehr after decades of underfunding.
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