Germany receives generous compensations for Patriot deliveries

In order to arm Ukraine against the ongoing missile terror of the Russian regime, the German government announced at the beginning of August that it would deliver two additional MIM-104 Patriot fire units from Bundeswehr stocks to Ukraine at short notice.

While the first components have already been delivered in the form of four launchers, the remaining parts will arrive in Ukraine in the coming months before the end of the year.

Minister of Defence Boris Pistorius expressed his pride at the time and announced that the pledged delivery once again demonstrates that Germany is by far Ukraine’s strongest supporter in the field of air defence.

However, what he and his ministry have so far kept quiet about to a certain extent is that Germany is being paid generously, at least in part, by other countries for the Patriot deliveries in particular, but also for other pledges it has made, especially in the area of air defence.

For example, as far as I know, regarding the recently announced delivery of two Patriot fire units, three countries are contributing to the costs of delivery and replacement for the German Bundeswehr, even though the German government had boldly announced at the time that it would bear the costs for two fire units alone.

Norway already bears 50% of the costs, meaning it pays for one of the two fire units entirely out of its own pocket.

Originally, official sources stated that Norway wanted to finance a third fire unit for Ukraine in addition to the two MIM-104 Patriot fire units that Germany wanted to finance on its own. Now it appears that Germany will receive the money.

A request for information on whether Norway would still finance another fire unit for Ukraine, as originally announced, remained unanswered by the Norwegian Ministry of Defence at the time of publication of this article.

But even without an official response, it is safe to say that this will not happen, as no other country except Germany was willing to transfer additional MIM-104 Patriot fire units from its own stocks to Ukraine.

In addition, Norway is also co-financing missiles for the MIM-104 Patriot air defence system from Bundeswehr stocks, the delivery of which was announced by the German Ministry of Defence at the end of June 2025. This was confirmed to me by the Norwegian Ministry of Defence upon enquiry.

According to a publication on the website of the Lithuanian Ministry of Defence and another one on the website of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence, Lithuania will donate €30 million to Germany next year. According to official projections, this corresponds to 15% of Lithuania’s total planned military support for Ukraine in 2025.

In summary, it can be said that the majority of the “German pledge” is actually being paid for by Norway, Denmark and Lithuania, although Germany’s contribution and willingness to provide air defence systems from its own stocks should not be overlooked.

However, other commitments are also being or have been financed, at least in part, by other countries. For the most part, this has been done without any public announcement or acknowledgement by the German government.

For example, it is hardly known to the public that Denmark financed, among other things, an unspecified number of Marder 1A3 IFVs, which were delivered to Ukraine by the German government as part of Germany’s military assistance.

In addition, last year, Norway contributed approximately €86 million – equivalent to more than 60% of the total cost – to the delivery of the fifth IRIS-T SLM fire unit by Germany as part of the Immediate Action on Air Defence Initiative (now Enduring Action on Air Defence), while this year, in addition to the Patriot commitments, other military aid pledged by the German government is also being partially financed by Norway.

According to the Norwegian government, Norway is also co-financing a contract between the German government and HENSOLDT for the delivery of TRML-4D air surveillance radars.

However, it is currently unclear whether these are radars that have already been promised as part of the German IRIS-T SLM deliveries, or radars whose delivery was announced a few weeks ago in a press release made public by the German manufacturer.

In the latter case, it should be noted that it has not yet been officially confirmed that this contract will be financed by the German government, even though this is likely.

In summary, it can be said that since February 2022, funds amounting to several hundred million euros have flowed (or will continue to flow) to Germany, particularly from Norway but also from other countries, which have been used to pay for military aid to Ukraine that the German government originally announced as purely German assistance and still treats as such in some cases.

While the knowledge that the German government allows other countries to pay for some of its own assistance leaves a bad taste, these circumstances also raise numerous questions.

Why are other countries financing Germany’s military assistance? What would happen if this were to cease in the future, and considering that the funds pledged from abroad are now likely to amount to at least half a billion euros, what else could have been financed for Ukraine with this money?

After all, it should not be forgotten that the funds are not being provided on top of existing commitments. It is a simple calculation. The money paid to the German government for assistance that has already been promised cannot be used to provide additional military equipment, which Ukraine urgently needs.

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