Readout of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth's Meeting With the Federal Minister of Defense of Germany, Boris Pistorius

Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell provided the following readout:

On September 15, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth met with German Federal Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius at the Pentagon. The two leaders discussed advancing bilateral defense-industrial cooperation and reinforcing collective deterrence under the NATO 3.0 framework which European Allies assume primary responsibility for Europe's conventional defense.

Secretary Hegseth emphasized that credible deterrence requires more than rhetoric, calling for combat-credible forces, robust production lines, and the surge capacity needed to sustain conventional defense by denial. Commending Germany's momentum toward fulfilling the five percent defense spending commitment established at the Hague Summit, the Secretary underscored that spending must translate directly into tangible warfighting readiness and industrial capacity.

Marking a major milestone in bilateral security cooperation, Secretary Hegseth and Minister Pistorius signed a Statement of Intent to significantly intensify defense-industrial collaboration, aligning with the American expansion of the Arsenal of Freedom. The leaders agreed to synchronize the Department of War's Acquisition Transformation Strategy with Germany's Procurement Acceleration Act and Security and Defense Industry Strategy, expanding joint development, production, licensed manufacturing, and maintenance capacity.

The Secretary and Minister also committed to eliminating regulatory friction and export control bottlenecks to rapidly deliver lethal systems to American, German, and Allied forces at speed and scale. Secretary Hegseth noted that a rearmed, industrially capable Germany mobilizing its manufacturing base serves as an essential conventional anchor in Europe and strengthens the entire Alliance.