Germany has undergone a fundamental shift in its defense thinking - abandoning the idea of reviving Cold War-era weapons production in favor of mass-producing drones in partnership with Ukraine, geopolitical analyst Peter Zeihan told the Superpowers podcast. Rheinmetall, one of Germany's largest defense firms, is retooling most of its facilities for military technology that did not exist five years ago.
As "Hvylya" reports, Zeihan explained that Europe faces a unique problem: unlike the US, which spent over 4% of GDP on defense and had decades of surplus inventory to hand over to Ukraine, most European countries effectively stopped investing in defense after 1992. "They slimmed down personnel, stopped acquisitions. Everything they have is 30 years old," he said.
The critical insight, according to Zeihan, is that even if Europe could restart old production lines, those weapons have already proven inadequate for modern combat. "The most fascinating thing I'm seeing is a turning of the page in Germany in particular. They've finally realized that history isn't over, military force isn't irrelevant, and they need to ramp up production. But they know that things like Leopard tanks or the Eurofighter are just not the right tool."
Instead, the Germans are collaborating directly with Ukraine on drone manufacturing - leveraging the industrial expertise of a company like Rheinmetall, which Zeihan noted "has been a headache for American automakers for decades." Germany is not alone in this shift: Ukraine and France have also agreed on joint weapons production, moving from simple aid to long-term industrial cooperation. The result could reshape European defense: "There's a very real scenario here: many European countries are beginning to produce military equipment far more appropriate for their strategic needs than anything they've bought from the United States since the Cold War."
The drone revolution is already being driven by the battlefield in Ukraine, where in 2025 alone, 550 new types of UAVs were approved for use by the Ukrainian military.