Southeast Asia taps Germany's defense industry

Germany and the Philippines this month agreed to enhance defense ties and boost joint activities, including rearmament, as several Southeast Asian states increasingly look to Europe to diversify their security arrangements away from traditional partners like the US and Russia.

The new deal will expand cooperation to include cybersecurity, armaments, logistics and peacekeeping duties.

The "arrangement concerning defense cooperation" was signed in Berlin by Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro and German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.


The Philippines, a US treaty ally, has secured a slew of new defense deals over the past 12 months, including an agreement with New Zealand last month. It expects to sign a similar defense deal with Canada this year.

In December, Manila signed a reciprocal access agreement with Japan. It will soon begin negotiations with France for a visiting forces agreement, which will allow French troops to be stationed at Philippine bases, similar to the agreement the Philippines has with the US.

The Philippines and several other Southeast Asian states have accused Chinese vessels of taking "aggressive actions" towards them over disputed territory in the South China Sea. At the same time, there are growing doubts about the US security guarantees under the Trump administration.

In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that Beijing's claims had no legal basis after the Philippines initiated proceedings. China rejects that decision.

In 2024, Germany deployed two warships to the Indo-Pacific region, demonstrating Berlin's commitment to freedom of navigation operations.

In February, Germany and Turkey were accepted as observer countries in the ASEAN Defense Minister Meeting (ADMM), the Southeast Asian bloc's main defense forum.

In addition to defense agreements, Southeast Asian states are also seeking to diversify the countries from which they purchase weapons, which has led to European countries scrambling for contracts.

Last year, the Philippines approved a $35 billion program to upgrade its military forces, including plans to purchase submarines for the first time. So far, tenders have been submitted by South Korea's Hanwha Ocean, France's Naval Group, Spain's Navantia, and a joint venture between Italy's Fincantieri and Germany's ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems.

Earlier this month, ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, a leading German naval shipbuilder, signed a new contract with Singapore for the construction of two additional Type 218SG submarines.

Southeast Asia shops for weapons

In 2024, Germany supplied four EC-145 light helicopters and four 11001-15000 ship engines to Indonesia. The same year, it sold IRIS-T long-range air-to-air missiles to Thailand.

According to the Federal Ministry of Economics, Germany approved arms sales to Singapore worth €1.2 billion last year.

Other Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam and Indonesia, are also considering purchases of European weaponry, mostly from France.

French President Emmanuel Macron will arrive in Vietnam on May 25 for a tour of Southeast Asia, which will also include stops in Indonesia and Singapore, where he will deliver a keynote speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's premier security summit.

Earlier this month, Indonesian troops arrived in Italy to train on two 6,000-ton advanced frigates, the first of which is scheduled to be delivered to the Southeast Asian state in June.

"Multi-alignment is on the rise these days as it responds well to the fluid and volatile nature of current world politics," Alexander Vuving, professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu, told DW.

"For Southeast Asian countries facing the US-China rivalry, European powers like Germany, France and the UK provide a good alternative," he added.

"If Europeans rise to the challenges facing their unique situation regarding their relations with Russia and the US, they can be a meaningful arms supplier for Southeast Asia."

Ian Storey, a senior fellow at Singapore's ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, told DW that European countries are "well-placed" to increase their defense sales to the region, especially as Russia's arms exports have collapsed.

Russian arms exports have dropped by 64% since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

Vietnam, which accounted for nearly all of Southeast Asia's imports of Russian arms, has actively sought alternative suppliers since 2022 due to the impact of Western sanctions on Russian exports.

Germany's capacity problem

However, Storey said, European armaments companies will face "stiff competition" from traditional suppliers such as the US and new players like South Korea and Turkey. "South Korea, in particular, is on a roll in Southeast Asia," he added.

In 2023, South Korea became one of the world's Top 10 arms exporters, and its government aims to make it the fourth-largest arms exporter by 2027.

A bigger problem is Germany's supply, not global demand, Zachary Abuza, a professor at the National War College in Washington, told DW.

Given the Russian threat to the continent, the ongoing war in Ukraine, and the Trump administration's lackluster commitment to European security, "I simply cannot imagine Germany's defense industrial base becoming any more than a niche player in the Southeast Asian arms market," Abuza said.

H&K machine guns and other small arms may be an exception, he added, but Germany's defense industries "have an enormous void to fill in Europe. I do not see any excess capacity," he added.