Dear ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the conference call of Hensoldt AG. At our customer's request, this conference will be recorded. As a reminder, all participants will be in a listen-only mode. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. If any participant has difficulties hearing the conference, please press star key followed by zero on your telephone for operator assistance. May I now hand you over to Veronika Endres, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you, and good afternoon, everybody. I warmly welcome you to Hensoldt's Q1 2022 Results Call. Thank you for joining us today. My name is Veronika Endres, and I'm Head of Investor Relations at Hensoldt. Today, our CEO, Thomas Müller, will give you an update on our achievements of the first quarter of the year, followed by more details on the latest development with regard to the German defense budget. Our CFO, Axel Salzmann, will then guide you through our Q1 results before we will open the Q&A session. With that, I will hand over to you, Thomas.
Thank you very much, Veronika. Dear ladies and gentlemen, a very warm welcome from my side, too, and a good afternoon. It's great to see you joining today's earnings call, in which we would like to present our results for the first quarter of 2022 to you. Before Axel, our CFO, is going to guide you through our once more strong financial performance, I would like to give you a brief overview on our business development in Q1 2022 and then dive a bit, even a little bit deeper into the effects and consequences of the increase in German defense spending. Following our presentation, we are happy to answer your questions. Our successful start into the financial year shows once again that we are setting the right strategic priorities.
We have started the new financial year with another strong growth in orders, driving our order backlog to a record level of EUR 5.5 billion. With our leading technologies and sensor solutions, we were again able to assert ourselves as a leading partner for important defense projects and accordingly booked numerous orders in the first quarter of this year. For example, the multipurpose frigates F-126, formerly known as MKS 180 of the German Navy, will be equipped with our Hensoldt TRS4D radars. The order for the delivery of the high-performance radars has a volume of EUR 168 million, and the first F126 frigates are expected to be delivered in 2028 and the following years. By the way, dear ladies and gentlemen, it's only the first part. We expect two further frigates to follow.
Furthermore, a long-term service contract for the Eurofighter with a volume of nearly EUR 300 million, very precisely EUR 270 million, has been booked in the first quarter. Huge success for our service business with good margin inside. Beyond the defense business, our activities in the civilian space are also evolving nicely. We are developing the next generation of our high-precision measurement technology, FFM, which will secure our position in this profitable and long-term recurring business with our partner and customer, ASML. With the French presidential elections won by Emmanuel Macron, I also expect increased impetus on the various European, clearly said Franco-German programs. Ladies and gentlemen, with our high-tech portfolio, we are the right technology partner for the security challenges of the future. This is all the more crucial as Europe is now confronted with a completely new security situation, as you all know.
The war against Ukraine is not only a human right tragedy or a human tragedy, but has led also to a turning point in European and German security policy within only a few days. Chancellor Scholz announced a special budget of EUR 100 billion, I repeat, EUR 100 billion to better equip the German Armed Forces and also reconfirmed the government's commitment to spend 2% of the GDP on defense sustainability. In addition, the recurring defense budget was raised from EUR 47 billion in 2021 to EUR 50 billion annually for the period 2022 to 2023. The special additional budget of EUR 100 billion will contribute to achieve the 2% target and even more, as the chancellor just recently said, and is an important step forward to quickly and comprehensively equip the German Armed Forces to face the new security policy reality.
As we all know, to bring the German Armed Forces back on an operational level again. This will be very quick and very fast. Hensoldt, we are ready to support this joint effort of Germany. As a leading technology company and provider of sovereign technology, we are aware of our special responsibility and role. Nonetheless, we, and I repeat, nonetheless, we remain cautious in our approach as you, dear ladies and gentlemen, know us from the past. We walk the talk. We talk about things when they are materializing, not prior to it. Let us please keep in mind that the EUR 100 billion special budget has to be cleared by political and legislative hurdles in Germany before being signed into law. We expect this will happen in the next couple of weeks prior to summer break in Germany.
It will also take them some time until there's sufficient clarity how the increased funding will impact our business figures. Ladies and gentlemen, please rest assured that we will inform you in due course once the good news has sufficiently materialized later this year. I repeat, the EUR 100 billion special budget, which will go through the German parliament in a couple of weeks, will be on top of the EUR 50 billion. If necessary, the spending will even be above 2%. As our chancellor said, it will be above 2%. The German government has defined three fields of action. With fields one and two being oriented towards providing direct and short-term support to Ukraine, as well as increasing combat readiness of the German Armed Forces.
We expect orders amounting to a low double-digit figure, mainly from spare parts, acceleration of maintenance, and the delivery of products we have on stock. I have to say clearly, our expectation, as we always say, is cautious and a low double-digit figure may be a higher figure in the second half of this year. First signs lead to these assumptions. The third field of action has a much higher impact on our business, and we see a very broad spectrum of opportunities here. Many programs that could not be pursued or were delayed due to the budget constraints in the past, have now been accelerated to secure medium and long-term operational readiness of the German customer. This results in a whole range of order potential for Hensoldt.
As a sensor solutions provider and supplier of national key technologies, we are able to contribute to a large number of future major projects for the German Armed Forces. Again, please keep in mind, we as Hensoldt are the one and only sensor solutions house in Germany, which means that in any future big program, Hensoldt will have its stake. Let me just give you some examples. We can supply the German army with night vision goggles at short notice and equip a second batch of the Puma infantry fighting vehicle with our sensor technology. Ladies and gentlemen, talking about night vision goggles, I'm not talking about a two-digit number. I'm talking about a three-digit number, because there are thousands of them, definitely and desperately needed.
The same applies to the upgrade of the Panzerhaubitze 2000, and also here we are participating as a sensor provider in what will be delivered by the OEMs. For the Air Force, we can supply radars, both active and passive, for high-performance air defense, thus creating a kind of Iron Dome based on sole German technology. To be crystal clear on this, we already successfully have proven this technology with some direct hits to be supplied currently to an export customer, and this German technology in the future will serve as a kind of COTS, immediately deployable in Germany and Ukraine. World-class, best-in-class, medium-range air defense. We are also well-positioned to provide an escort jamming pod in electronic warfare for the Eurofighter, as well as avionics and self-protection for further helicopter programs.
In the Navy, our radars will be placed on additional, as I already said, F-126 multipurpose combat ships, a third batch of K130 corvettes, and in addition, on future additional 212 class submarines. Another state-of-the-art, best-in-class, counter-battery radar system called Cobra will be delivered by Hensoldt and its partner, Thales, as we expect it currently to all over Eastern Europe in the next years. We at Hensoldt are also very well-positioned in the more long-term programs. These include the major European programs such as FCAS, Future Combat Air System, and the Main Ground Combat System, which will be revised after the French election, as well as our contribution to electronic warfare and self-protection capabilities of the Eurofighter, the sensor function as part of the digitalization of the army and the new anti-ballistic F-127 air defense frigates .
We expect the first orders from these procurement programs to be received in the second half of this year and see a variety of impulses overall for sustainable growth at Hensoldt in the coming years. I really want to point out that, as you remember, Hensoldt is best-in-class to take this challenge ahead of us in sensor solutions. I only can say with this very exciting prospects, I would like to hand over to Axel Salzmann, our CFO, who will go in more details. Thank you. Axel, please.
Yeah. Thank you, Thomas. A warm welcome to this results call of Hensoldt from my side as well. I'm pleased to provide you with details on our financials for the first quarter of 2022. We again transferred our strong momentum of the last year and realized significant growth in our top line. In the first three months of 2022, we were able to secure a number of big orders. In the Sensors segment, for example, we received the orders to equip the frigate F-126 with our TRS-4D radars, worth EUR 168 million. We see three long-term service contracts for the Eurofighter worth EUR 270 million. In total, orders summing up to EUR 680 million in the first three months of this year. Compared to the already strong first quarter 2020, order intake thereby increased by 25%.
This results in a book-to-bill ratio of 2.4x . As you can see, our pipelines further transform into order intake, and this also reflects our strong revenue availability. Our sales increased by 37% to EUR 286 million. This is mainly driven by sustainable growth in the Sensors segment, most notably, of course, in the key program which developed as planned. All this results again in a firm order backlog at record level. At the end of the first quarter, our order backlog was at EUR 5.5 billion and thereby more than EUR 1.7 billion higher compared to the first quarter of 2021, a +46%. This covers around 3.2 x our guided revenues for 2022. Please keep in mind our business is weighted towards the last quarter of the financial year.
Overall, our bottom line develops as planned. As mentioned before, our business is very much weighted to the second half of the year, not only with regard to sales, but also in terms of profitability and cash flow. Adjusted EBITDA increased by 11% to EUR 17 million and adjusted EBIT came in at EUR 1 million. Also, the profitability in the first three months of 2022 is below the Q1 2022 results. This is clearly related to the lower project margins for pass-through revenues and projects in early stage of life cycle. In addition, we continue to invest in research and development and increase bid budgets to ensure future growth. The adjusted pre-tax unlevered free cash flow is at EUR -140 million, which was as planned for.
The first quarter of our financial year is characterized by an increase in working capital, especially in inventories and contract balances. This year that effect is additionally reinforced by our key projects in the early stage. Let me point out again, once again, pass-through business and major projects in the early stage develop as expected. Coming to a conclusion, let me mention the following key financial takeaways. In terms of visibility, we see that pipeline further materialize, resulting in a record order backlog of EUR 5.5 billion. Profitability before pass-through revenue stays on a sustainable level. Cash flow in line with our expectation to ensure future growth.
Our other outlook is promising since we confirm short and medium guidance for all KPIs, increasing order backlog, around 50% growth in revenue to around EUR 1.7 billion, around 12% growth in that absolute Adjusted EBITDA, further deleveraging, and we stick to our dividend policy of up to 20% of adjusted net income. Now we are happy to take your questions.
Thank you. We will now begin our question and answer session. If you have a question for our speakers, please dial zero one on your telephone keypad now to enter the queue. Once your name has been announced, you can ask a question. If you find your question is answered before it is your turn to speak, you can dial zero two to cancel your question. If you're using speaker equipment today, please lift your handset before making your selection. One moment, please, for the first question. The first question is coming from Ben Heelan at the Bank of America. Your line is now open.
Yeah. Afternoon, guys. Thanks for taking the questions. I had a few. First, on margins. You talked about early stage projects and pass-throughs, particularly in Optronics. Could you give us a little bit more color about what those projects exactly were and how long that is gonna be a drag for you? That'd be the first one. Second one would be on supply chain and inflation. It doesn't appear as though you're commenting on any particular pressure in those areas, but obviously the environment is challenging. Are you seeing any impact there? Do you see that as a risk? Then finally, on this low double-digit EUR million from short cycle orders.
How should we think about that into 2023? Is there potential for those orders to be stronger than low double-digit as we move into 2023? Thank you.
Yeah. I would like to take your last question first and then passing to Axel. This two-digit orders we see in front of us will be in the next one and a half years. A big part of it will come in this year, but we expect an even stronger and bigger order intake from this next year. In total, we can't give you any precise numbers on this, but taking into account what we have offered, taking into account of the potential we see, it will be only for Ukraine, a significant number. Which will materialize, by the way, in the second half of this year, when we know further and more in detail what we are talking about precisely. Axel, please.
Hi, Ben.
It's Axel Salzmann speaking. Concerning your questions in relation to the margin development in Optronics, it's very simple. It's Security Solutions. These are projects in early stage. For example, laser rangefinder, some LiDARs and this kind of stuff. Mainly driven out of South Africa, but also we are preparing sensor solutions, Security Solutions, offers for the German process where we have to invest a little bit, so there's nothing really to worry about. Concerning the supply chain risk, we are monitoring obviously the supply chain very closely. So far we do not see any kind of risk for 2022, but as I have mentioned already, we are monitoring that very closely and we will react if there's something to come up.
Obviously we are preparing ourselves for each and any reason that we could think about. That is something which is so far really on our radar, not something to worry about.
Okay. Okay, great. Thank you.
The next question is coming from Christian Cohrs at Warburg Research. Your line is now open.
Yes. Hello, good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question. Maybe first, I fully understand that you want to stay on the cautious side with regard to the business potential related to the EUR 100 billion extra fund. Well, in the press there are various opportunities, possibilities mentioned, like for instance, to replace the Tornado fleet by additional Eurofighters. In your presentation, you also mentioned the second PUMA lot, for instance. Can you maybe provide us with an idea, what is the Hensoldt content per unit?
Yeah.
for the Eurofighter, for the PUMA lot that we can, yeah, actually make our own thoughts, and what is there in terms of possibilities? Second question relates, also, to latest news. There is speculation about an excess profit tax here in Germany for the winners related to the war in the Ukraine. Does this also affect the defense industry, and do you have any thoughts on that? Is this a risk factor? Any thoughts would be welcome. Lastly, two housekeeping items to the CFO. First, in the balance sheet, there are two items. First, the deferred tax liabilities have gone up. Secondly, the provisions have come down quite materially since the beginning of the year.
I wanted to know, especially with regards to the provisions, is this solely related to the higher interest or anything special we have to be aware of?
Christian, thank you very much for your question. I would like to start with the Eurofighter, for the replacement of the Tornados. Yeah, there is a huge opportunity for us in. And we will see if there are only 15 Eurofighters to escort the F-35s or if there is even a lot of another 40-50. You can imagine what is behind there. It's not all EW with support from Hensoldt, but it's also an overall rejuvenation of the Eurofighter which leads into flying the Eurofighter up to 2050, which is currently planned by the German Armed Forces. This will open a big opportunity.
You have seen our figures we had in the past, and you can, I think, calculate for yourself at least, not only the MK 1 radars, but also other stuff which are bought there. This would be a very huge order income, which further materializes our EUR 10 billion order pipeline we see. You remember always the EUR 10 billion order pipeline we see. Supported strongly by the army, second lot of PUMA is now getting more, is materializing more and more. Again, it's not done. It's not ordered. It will be orders which come in the next year, perhaps second half of this year for the PUMA. Eurofighter will be most probably next year. But for the PUMA, maybe even this year, or the beginning of the next year.
We have already equipped the first lot with our optronic systems, and happy to do so again. Self-protection systems, we have again a strong participation in the PUMA lot too. If you ask me now, what is the precise number, what is the precise volume? I can't tell you, not because I don't know it, but I'm not allowed to do it. For the tax, I would already pass to Axel and for sure for your third part of the question, the deferred tax and the provisions. For the German tax situation, I would also like to pass to Axel. Axel, please.
Yeah. Thank you, Thomas.
This is difficult, but I know.
No. You know, Christian, I'm happy to take your questions, but coming up with the additional tax situation, which are right now the rumor or a discussion in the press, I think, Christian, you will understand that I cannot comment on that. I think that is right now something which is in the glass cube. My personal belief is that it is nice discussion, but it will not happen. That's my personal belief. I cannot, as an official CFO, I cannot comment on this situation. I do not believe for the company in that. Coming back to the housekeeping which you have phrased it, I think it's very simple. The non-current provisions are related to the pensions.
As you know, the interest rate for pensions has gone up, and that means that you have to review the provisions accordingly. That is based on the testing which we are doing once in a quarter. Second, what was it?
Deferred tax.
Deferred. Yeah, sorry, Christian. Deferred taxes, it's simply related to the seasonality of our business and therefore nothing specific. These are not the major points in this perspective.
Okay. That's clear.
Did I answer your questions, Christian?
Yes, you did. Sorry that I've bothered you with the excess profit tax. I share your view, but I simply thought I'd give it a try.
The question is not bothering me. It's simply that I cannot answer to that, and I have only my personal opinion, but that should be not part of this discussion.
Yeah. Okay. Understood. Many thanks. I go back to the queue.
Okay. Thanks, Christian.
The next questions are coming from Christophe Menard at Deutsche Bank.
Yes. Good afternoon. I had three questions. The first one on the free cash flow profile, and the seasonality throughout the year. Could you update us on what is the profile we should have in Q2, Q3, Q4? Should we expect such a strong imbalance, I would say, in Q1 every year, I mean, especially as you're gonna grow quite steeply. That was the first question. The second question is, thanks for the update on the programs and contract opportunities. I was wondering whether you could also update us on other programs that you mentioned in the past, like TLVS, STH, and the Eurofighter ECR, the F-15, that have been discussed.
I mean, it does not show up, or I may have misread, in the contract opportunities, or is it the luWES contract? I mean, if you could expand a little bit more on that opportunity. Finally, just more housekeeping element. You mentioned at the beginning of the presentation, the FFM contract in metrology. Is it a new area of business, or I may have missed it in the past? Is it coming with better margin than your current, I think, Optronics business? If you could expand a bit more on this, in terms of what size it could have in the future. Thank you very much.
Okay, Christophe. Thanks for the questions. I take two and three and leave Axel with the first one. We are shortly on programs like TLVS, the heavy transport helicopter, and the Eurofighter ECR. We couldn't talk too much about the Eurofighter ECR, the 15 planes, because there has been a huge discussion in the past, although in the former government, is it a U.S.-based Growler system, which is the F/A-18? Is it a Eurofighter? Is it a different scheme? Now the Germans decided. Now, decided is perhaps the wrong wording. There is an intention because it's all not finally decided as long as the EUR 100 billion budget is not decided.
Going for the F-35 and equipping the Eurofighter with an EW capability, which we are preparing for years, this would open new business opportunities. It's not luWES, Christophe, because luWES is also including a standoff jammer. This is an escort jammer. The difference is the escort jammer is flying with the F-35s on a Eurofighter. The standoff jammer is far away from a much bigger plane and holding down enemy radars. There's a good business opportunity. We can't tell you too much yet about how it looks like at the end of the day. The Germans want to take into account should Hensoldt do it on its own, or should we very transparently partner with another international company?
We will see, and we have to decide speed and performance of the assets, and we will decide what we are going to do. Once it's materialized, we are more than happy to talk to you about the additional business volume. Heavy transport helicopter, as you all know, it will be an American product, either Sikorsky or Boeing. I will not give you any idea who is in front, because it's crystal ball viewing. If you read the newspapers, I can say that I admit and expect that the newspapers are quite well informed currently. Hensoldt is currently talking to the MOD, because our self-protection systems, we expect could be a very good idea to get on board because they are benchmark.
As you know, we are the world market leader in this area, so that we can get on board of an American helicopter with future opportunities, by the way. Now, TLVS. TLVS, part of TLVS has been, as I reported, you remember in the beginning of our call about this German-based air defense medium-range system. Part of TLVS always has been the system, and we are now without TLVS. We will now deliver exactly these systems, not only to the export customer, but we are starting discussions also with the German customer and by the way, other customers, which is very promising. Yeah, and I have to say again, a very good business opportunity. These are the four programs you mentioned. Yes, there are other programs. You remember what I said about the COBRA program.
You have seen it most probably in the newspapers, too, in the media. This is a very promising benchmark artillery detection system. We have provided this in the Cold War, renewed it, and sold it all over the world together with our partner, Thales. This has now been on the list of the Ukraine's, and now everyone is rediscovering the performance of such a system. Again, here we have, I think, quite good business opportunities as it has been cited in the media today. Now, on the FFM, you didn't miss, but we didn't talk too much about it. We are an exclusive partner also for the next generation for ASML. It is based on our outstanding technology in optronics.
ASML is overly happy to have us as a partner for this measuring system, which is the basis for next generation chips. We are very happy to supply it to ASML. It is a long-lasting story, but it grew very nicely. Now, today it has a size which is interesting for Hensoldt, and it is a good margin. I can't tell you if it's a better or good margin. No, I say it's a good margin. I can't tell you if it's a better margin than the rest, but we are happy about it because the partnership with ASML is outstanding. I will pass to Axel for the free cash flow.
Hi, Christophe. Concerning the free cash flow, I think it's following the normal seasonality in our business. As you know, we have to follow the milestone development and the invoicing capabilities, and then we'll receive the related cash flow. At least I have in my mind, and that is also the proven part of our history, that at least 70% is coming from the second half of the calendar year. Most notably, most of that comes in the fourth quarter.
Okay. Thank you. Should we expect the same type of seasonality in Q1 next year as growth continues? Or, because you would have the same kind of startup costs to stay. Is it something that we should take as a benchmark, the level we had in Q1 this year?
As you know, I have worked for four years or five years for this company. The seasonality remains as it is. That's mainly back-end driven for the calendar year. I do not believe that we'll have and we'll see a real shift in seasonality.
Okay. Thank you very much.
The next question is coming from Sash Tusa at Agency Partners, London. Your line is now open.
Thank you very much indeed. Good afternoon. I've just got a question about your backlog profile. Several of your peers, who are also fortunate enough to have very substantial backlogs, give an indication of how much of the backlog is scheduled for delivery in the current year, in the next financial year, and thereafter, just to give investors, in particular, an idea of how the backlog might contribute to revenues over those periods. Is that something you know, could you just give us an idea about how much of the EUR 5.5 billion you would expect to deliver this year and how much next year?
Hi, Sash. It's correct, Sash, yeah?
Yeah.
Okay, Sash. The backlog, as I've said during my full year presentation, the good is that, for year 2022, we have 95% already secured out of the order backlog. That will obviously, for the other years, a little bit less. Well, it will be less for sure. So far we have only for full year in our annual closing, the seasonality on backlog disclosed. For me it's much more important, what is the actual situation. Right now, 95% is already in. We are delivering that. We are producing that. For the next year, the year 2023, I have even a very good, in relation to the prior years, visibility as for coverage out of the order backlog.
Great. Thank you very much.
The next question comes from Aymeric Poulain at Kepler Cheuvreux. Your line is now open.
Yes. Thank you for taking my question. A few questions follow up on the free cash flow question. If you have indeed a surge in orders and turnover in the coming year coming from the German MoD, do you see the group capable of meeting this demand with the existing capacity, or do you expect significant upfront investment to be made in order to meet this surge in demand? Obviously, I think before the war in Ukraine and this budget announcement, you were talking about diversification, especially geographical diversification via M&A outside Europe.
Is that still on the agenda, or do you need to focus your resource on the current need of the German MoD? If indeed you are still looking at overseas opportunity, do you have the managerial depth to execute on all these fronts? Thank you.
Okay. Aymeric, thank you for the question. It's absolutely valuable and valid because this is for sure one of the big questions which is in front of us. It's not only related to the free cash flow, but generally we get a lot of questions: Are you capable to deliver in very short time, what is requested? Now, as you all know us, we are a little bit more cautious than perhaps some others and we want to walk the talk. On capacity, we clearly can say, yes, we have the capacity, the locations, the machinery in place to ramp up. No, I would not say very quickly, but to ramp up quickly. Same is for our staff. Highly skilled workforce, we have to
On the one or the other hand, get some staff on board, but we can ramp up quickly. Now very important, there is no big free cash flow drain, no free cash flow necessary to ramp up our capabilities. We have one bottleneck, and we talked about it previously, which is supply chain. For the time being, we don't see any big problems in supply chain. We are mastering it. But if we have a significant ramp up and a significant faster delivery than we even imagined today, then we have to work on our supply chain. Here, I can't say that everything is totally under control because we have to see. You know, it's a day-to-day surprise we are currently facing.
It's a luxury problem for our company to say, "Well, we have to master the growth quickly." Capacity and resources, human resources are okay. Supply chain, we have to check. We have a couple of measures launched in order to also master supply chain, even if we have a significant strong and fast ramp up. I'll give you an example. We talked about the COBRA system. We just today had already a meeting with our partner, Thales, in order to cut the delivery time by 2/3. I repeat, two-thirds. On the M&A, you are absolutely right. We have to consider where our priorities lay in the moment, and the Ukrainian war has changed a lot of things. To look for an M&A outside of Europe, maybe we have to think about it.
We are currently revising our strategy for the next years. What we can say, we cannot only look for the next couple of months or near-term view, but we have also to look on a longer-lasting basis. This means that we have to enhance, even if our priorities, you're absolutely right, are currently on Germany and Europe, we have to enhance our overall view and global footprint, and we will not waver on the globalization of our company, especially as we have, very positive examples. Only to say South Africa is very positively developing, and there's a lot of capacity and highly skilled workforce down there. Hope it helps.
Thank you.
The next question is coming from David Perry at J.P. Morgan. Your line is now open.
Yes. Hello, gentlemen. I've got two questions, please. I just want to understand, especially as a British person who doesn't read German and can't follow the news there, just why we've got the EUR 100 billion special budget as opposed to just going to 2% of GDP. Is this because Germany's plan is to go to 2% for four to five years and then go back just to the EUR 50 billion, so this is a four to five year uplift as opposed to permanent? Just if you could explain that or your thoughts on that. Just I thought it would be helpful just to ask you about the Eurofighter radar and Pegasus, your two mega projects. Just an update on execution that they're all on track. Thank you.
Yeah. First, Dave, thank you. On the EUR 100 billion. Well, I think everyone admits that the German Armed Forces are in, how to say it, politely, in a difficult operational status. To get a couple of hundred troops being very well equipped in Lithuania, we had to scramble all the working equipment all over Germany. You can imagine that this is not the status a German army should have. The EUR 100 billion the chancellor announced is, as we said, on top of the EUR 50 billion to go up to 2% GDP means to go up to EUR 70 billion-EUR 75 billion. Here you can easily calculate on top of the EUR 50 billion, how long it reaches, and you're absolutely right, what happens afterwards.
What the chancellor clearly said, he will not stop at 2% because in the near term, we most probably have to spend more than EUR 2 billion. As I learned, the chancellor also walks the talk. He means what he said. He has a totally different view on defense and the necessity to defend our freedom and liberal democracies as the predecessor. We do not believe, but we are sure currently that this 2% goal and even more will last over the next decade. If you take the big programs which are in front of us, the Future Combat Air System, even a more consolidated view of military systems in Europe, including, by the way, the U.K., we need definitely to spend more money.
It has been a game-changer in the world. It has been a paradigm change with the assault of the Russians towards Ukraine and we have to defend Europe and the NATO countries. This is a clear view, a clear, significant change in German politics. We are not only expecting, we are sure that it will go ahead. Now, on the Eurofighter radar, on one of the big programs, the MK 1, it's running normally, which means that, yes, we have, in one or the other area, as in the big programs, we have to talk to suppliers, we have to talk to partners if things are going in the right direction. But overall, we are on a good track. We maintain our milestones, and I think this is very good news because the MK 1 will be ready as planned.
In some areas, we are even faster. In some areas where we have, we are in cooperation in the EuroRADAR consortium, we have to work on this, but overall, we deliver what we said. All milestones met, by the way, up to now, also for cash. Very important.
PEGASUS
I hope it helps.
Yeah. Sorry. There's PEGASUS as well. I just thought it'd be useful to check.
Absolutely. Absolutely.
There are no further questions at the moment. For closing remarks, back to Veronika Endres.
Yeah. Thank you all for listening and also for your questions. As always, if you should have any further questions, the IR team is around all day to follow up. With that, have a great day. Thank you all, and goodbye.
Thanks to all of you, really, for listening today. We are in incredible times. We never expected that this situation would come back again to Europe. Let's face it, and let's take the challenge on the front. Thank you very much.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your attendance. This call has been concluded. You may disconnect.