Arms deals: Federal government approves arms exports STERN.de
gun shops
Federal government approves arms exports
A Bundeswehr H-145M helicopter normally used for dropping special forces. photo
© Marius Becker/dpa
Fan guns, radio and video surveillance technology, attack helicopters: the traffic light approves arms exports abroad – a country in West Africa is also among the buyers.
The federal government has several major arms exports approved abroad – to Niger, India and Cyprus. This emerges from a letter from the Ministry of Economic Affairs to members of parliament, which was available to the German Press Agency. The “Spiegel” reported about it first.
Accordingly, the West African state of Niger received permission to import two King Air 360 ER fan guns that had been converted for border surveillance. It is also about radio and video surveillance technology. In the armor pack for India Included is technical equipment, such as for gears, which is used in the Leopard 2 battle tank and other combat vehicles. Cyprus is to receive twelve H145M combat helicopters.
Criticism came from the left. Sevim Dagdelen, Chairwoman of the Left in the Foreign Affairs Committee, told the dpa: “It is a moral oath of disclosure that the federal government is now delivering German armaments on a massive scale to areas of war and tension, such as the Niger or India. It is particularly perfidious from the traffic light, as in the case of Pakistan and India, as well as Turkey and Cyprus, to arm both parties to the conflict freely according to the motto “German weapons all over the world.” The only beneficiaries of this irresponsible policy are the German armaments manufacturers.
