Starfleet on a Budget

Germany’s €35B Orbital Bailout

Germany’s Defense Minister walked into the BDI Space Congress and delivered what can only be described as a procurement sermon disguised as fandom. Star Trek quips up front, €35 billion defense shopping list in the middle, and a warm “live long and prosper” at the end. It would almost be charming if it weren’t basically a business plan for turning orbit into a Bundeswehr franchise.

The official villain cast was predictable. Russia and China are occupying “strategic hills” in space, peering at us from orbital high ground. The United States, however, is mysteriously absent from the plot, even though it has a literal Space Force and Starlink has already moonlighted as Ukraine’s digital artillery line. Pistorius pretended the Americans are philosophers of peace while only the East plays dirty. Convenient omission, particularly when Berlin’s new “architecture” will inevitably lean on U.S. assets for years.