Monetary signs: Germany will increase financing of American weapons for Kiev
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius traveled to the United States on the evening of September 15 for talks with Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth. They will discuss the transfer of licenses to European companies for the production of American weapons, in particular the RAS-2 and RAS-3 interceptor missiles. The meeting is taking place amid Kiev's inability to contain the advance of Russian troops without Western military supplies, including due to a shortage of missiles for air defense systems. Experts emphasize that a direct consequence of a possible deal between Germany and the United States may be the unblocking of German reserves — Berlin will be able to send additional interceptor missiles for Patriot systems to Kiev. How realistic this is and who will actually benefit from this agreement is in the "Izvestia" material.
Licensing of US weapons
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius arrived in the United States on September 15. Earlier, his American counterpart Pete Hegseth avoided the meeting due to the cooling in relations between Washington and Berlin. The disagreements, in particular, concerned Germany's refusal to actively support the United States in the war with Iran.
Now that the conflict between Washington and Tehran has actually turned into an economic confrontation, and the Ukrainian topic has returned to the front pages of the world's media, the German minister intends to discuss deepening cooperation between the military-industrial complex of the two countries. The parties may sign an agreement that will allow European defense companies to produce American weapons under license, Bloomberg previously reported. In particular, we are talking about the production in Germany of PAC-2 missiles for the Patriot air defense system. However, German officials want to obtain permission for the release of PAC-3, which Berlin is sending to Kiev, among other things.
Ukraine has almost exhausted its reserves of interceptor missiles for Patriot systems, and it is not yet clear which of the allies will be able to replenish them quickly, The Economist wrote earlier. In these circumstances, Russia is successfully increasing its ballistic missile strikes against targets in Ukraine. Back in July, the Pentagon allowed the possibility of launching PAC-3 production at foreign enterprises.
A direct consequence of Germany's possible deal with the United States could be the unblocking of German reserves, Vadim Koroshchupov, a researcher at the IMEMO RAS, told "Izvestia". Germany could immediately send additional PAC-2 interceptor missiles to Kiev. Previously, Berlin kept part of the scarce reserves for its own defense, but providing guarantees to the United States to compensate for these losses will allow German warehouses to be laid bare in order to help the Armed Forces, the analyst believes.
The PAC-3 production licenses will not be free. German defense companies will have to pay billions in royalties to American corporations.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, whose rating has dropped to record lows, continues to assure that he will make every effort to support Kiev and convince society that this is in the interests of German citizens. At the same time, the most popular party in Germany has long been the "Alternative for Germany", which advocates ending military aid to Ukraine and dialogue with the Russian Federation.
In the meantime, the US budget and American companies are making huge profits due to the sharp increase in European defense spending. The European military-industrial complex has made a serious leap in recent years, but the technology gap has been created for decades, while Europe relied on the United States, Vadim Koroshchupov notes. It will take 10 to 20 years for the independent development of analogues, and during this entire transition period, profits will flow to the States.
The problem of Ukrainian Armed Forces assistance
Under President Joe Biden, the United States has become Ukraine's largest military donor. The administration regularly approved huge tranches. During his presidency, the volume of direct military aid to Kiev exceeded $66.5 billion. Under Donald Trump, the gratuitous military financing of Ukraine from the United States practically stopped, and the support system itself was completely rebuilt.
Instead of free supplies from warehouses, the United States switched to direct sales. In the summer of 2025, Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte launched a new PURL mechanism, in which European countries transfer weapons from their arsenals to Ukraine, and renew stocks by buying vacant positions from the American military-industrial complex with their own money. The main costs are borne by European countries. For example, Germany ranks third in terms of funding for this mechanism ($0.9 billion), second only to Norway ($1.36 billion) and the Netherlands ($1.16 billion). As part of this mechanism, part of the air defense systems is being transferred to Ukraine.
At the beginning of 2026, the production volume of missiles for the Patriot air defense system in the United States was about 600 units per year, and the supply of single batches of 30-40 units could not cover the real cost in the theater of military operations, Boris Rozhin, an expert at the Center for Military and Political Journalism, told "Izvestia". The Ukrainian Armed Forces need hundreds of missiles every month, but the West does not have such capacities.
The situation with the French-Italian SAMP/T complexes is similar, the analyst is sure. The transfer of the launchers and radars themselves, which French President Emmanuel Macron promises, does not solve the problem, since the production of Aster-30 missiles used by them in Europe is extremely limited, and the complexes have long been experiencing a shortage of ammunition. Due to the conflicts in the Middle East, the United States spends a lot of air defense missiles and will prioritize its own security and its Middle Eastern allies over Ukraine in allocating them.
SAMP/T medium-range anti-aircraft missile system
In these circumstances, the Trump administration is pushing the parties to resume dialogue with Moscow. In early September, White House special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner already visited Russia and Ukraine. Although no breakthrough has been publicly announced, the visits themselves have given rise to discuss a possible round of trilateral talks in the format of the Russian Federation – the United States – Ukraine. Moscow is ready for such a dialogue: the Kremlin does not rule out that the meeting may take place as early as October, and the UAE will become a likely venue for it.
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