German defence industry growing faster than wider economy, report says

A survey by the Federal Association of the German Security and Defence Industry (BDSV) has found that Germany's defence sector is growing at a faster rate and is more productive than the wider national economy.

"The gross value output of the security and defence industry experienced an annual average increase of 5% from 2005 to 2011. This represents more than twice the amount of growth of the German economy as a whole (2.3%)," the BDSV stated.

A German industry analyst familiar with the survey told IHS Jane's on 20 December that "in 2011 the volume of goods produced by the German defence sector was EUR28.3 billion (USD37.4 billion). Compare this with the country's combined defence procurement and research and development (R&D) budget which stood at EUR6 billion in 2011".

According to the BDSV survey, published on 12 December, the defence sector exported goods worth EUR12.5 billion. This corresponds to an export ratio of 48.1%, based on the entire volume of goods. "It clearly shows that exports are the mainstay of Germany's defence industry and will remain so for the foreseeable time," the analyst said.

The German defence sector invests 19% of its total revenue on R&D, according to the report.