The latest New Strategy Center study, titled Zeitenwende: Towards a German Grand Strategic Awakening, examines whether Germany’s post-2022 rearmament represents a genuine strategic transformation or a more limited adaptation to immediate security pressures. Focusing on procurement, defence-industrial capacity, fiscal constraints and Eastern Flank deterrence, it argues that European defence ambitions must be judged by their ability to produce deployable capabilities, not only political declarations or spending increases. The study links Germany’s choices on armour, air defence and unmanned systems to broader questions of EU defence cooperation, Ukraine’s battlefield lessons, and Europe’s capacity to assume greater responsibility under conditions of transatlantic uncertainty.
The author of the analysis is Andrei Pavel, non resident expert, New Strategy Center.