The Missiles Are Coming. So Are the Oligarchs.

If Putin and Orbán Fall Together, the Bros Lose Everything

When the orders don’t fly, the credibility of your support is genuinely questionable.

The only complaint I still hold against Chancellor Merz is this: the big, bold bulk order for Taurus missiles never came. Yes, he’s leading a coalition government. And yes, his junior partner is the SPD—the same party that, under former Chancellor Olaf Scholz, steadfastly blocked the delivery of Taurus missiles.

But that still doesn’t absolve Merz. He had the chance to mark a clear break. He didn’t take it. He needs to place that order—for Europe’s sake, for Germany’s sake, and for the future’s sake.

The pattern is clear for anyone paying attention. It started with one of the geniuses of our century, Jake Sullivan. The tactic? Never place a large enough order. Then, when the moment of decision arrives, hide behind "low stock" excuses. Now everyone uses that move—especially when they want to stay in the shadows.

So here’s a better way to measure real commitment: just weigh the size of the orders.

Take the €8.3 billion order that Olaf Scholz’s government placed with Rheinmetall in 2023. That one order was a key reason why Rheinmetall is now the world’s number one artillery shell manufacturer. There were several more big contracts after that—and no one is getting close to Rheinmetall’s production capacity for at least a decade, maybe longer.

And last week, the Pentagon finally moved. It placed one of the largest orders in its history—for the AIM-120 missile. You know the one: the same missile that flew out of Ukraine’s Magura naval drone and took down a Russian fighter jet over the Black Sea. That one.

Normally, AIM-120s are air-to-air missiles fired from fighter jets—but they can also be launched from NASAMS air-defense systems.

The Pentagon has now signed a record $3.5 billion contract with Raytheon to procure AIM-120 AMRAAMs, telemetry systems, spare parts, and service support. These missiles are bound for 19 nations, including Japan, Germany, Poland, Australia, the UK, Israel, and Ukraine.

Of course, the Pentagon didn’t say how many missiles we can expect. But with unit costs running close to a million dollars each, the scale is large enough to flood supply chains and free up stockpiles.

And that wasn’t the only deal. On the same day, the Pentagon also placed a $7.8 billion order for Joint Air-To-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM) and Long-Range Anti-Ship Missiles (LRASM).