Germany to buy three US Himars rocket systems for Ukraine

It came as Mr Pistorius warned that Germany could be facing an “arms freeze” as soon as next year due to a lack of funding for the Bundeswehr in the Scholz government’s budget.

Speaking to broadcaster ZDF, Mr Pistorius said the German army needed significant further investment to make it a leading European defence force in the near future.

”[The problem is] money is needed to continue procurement for the Bundeswehr, or else next year and in the following years we will effectively be running into an arms freeze,” the German defence minister said.

“That would really not be a good sign for our allies, but also [not a good sign] with regard to our own defence capability.”

According to German media reports, Mr Pistorius has been lobbying the finance ministry to exempt the army from the country’s famous “debt brake”, which imposes strict limits on government borrowing and spending.

Officials in the defence ministry have drawn up a memo which argues that this would be legal, as maintaining a credible defence force – the Bundeswehr – is a constitutional requirement in Germany.