Accommodating the F35’s will add more cost of up to 800 million Euros

The German Defense Ministry said that the total cost of restructuring the Büchel military airfield in the Eifel region in western Germany, initially estimated at 1.2 billion Euros, is expected to rise to around 2 billion Euros, an additional 800 million Euros, so that the airfield can receive the US-made F-35 stealth aircraft.

“The baseline calculation includes all currently projected expenditure items and cost factors, including risk premiums, but given the unique challenges facing the project, this cannot represent a firm final price,” a German Defense spokeswoman said.

The spokeswoman explained that additional price increases cannot be ruled out, for example due to increased staffing to meet very ambitious schedules, adding, “The total costs will be determined after the project is completed in 2027”.

The German government has ordered 35 F35 fighter jets from the United States for Germany’s participation in NATO’s nuclear deterrent.

These fighters could be equipped with American nuclear bombs stored in bushels.

In late June, the German Defense Ministry acknowledged that costs would increase by hundreds of millions of Euros.

A contract with the general contractor for the new project framework is scheduled to be signed next August.

The high cost is attributed to stringent security requirements and extreme time pressure.

The German Defense Ministry spokeswoman said that at the start of the project, it wasn’t possible to estimate the additional costs that would be caused by the enormous security requirements also imposed by the United States during the operation.

She added, “Postponing the project to avoid increased costs was an unavoidable option, as the timetable for deploying the F-35s from 2027 cannot be postponed”.

She explained that extending the implementation period to twice the time under normal circumstances would also have increased costs.