German Defense Minister Pistorius heads to US for talks

Police have found a large depot of firearms and ammunition in Rhineland-Palatinate

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is to hold talks with his US counterpart Pete Hegseth in Washington

A Berlin woman is facing charges of supporting the terrorist group 'Islamic State'

Here is a roundup of top stories from and about Germany on Tuesday, September 15, 2026:

Germany's Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is on his way to the US for a meeting with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon.

Before setting off on his trip, Pistorius mentioned Germany's order of US-made F-35 stealth jets, which are set to replace the German Air Force's aging Tornado combat planes.

On Friday, he will visit the manufacturer of the planes, Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth, Texas, where the first of the aircraft will be officially handed over.

Pistorius said another focus of the talks could be plans to make guided missiles for the Patriot air defense system in Germany.

The German government also intends to buy Tomahawk cruise missiles in the US, having reached a preliminary agreement on a deal on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara in July.

Police have found a cache of weapons and ammunition near a major country road in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate but no clues as to who put it there or why.

The depot contained several rifles, shotguns and pistols, in addition to a submachine gun, a flare gun and several thousands of rounds for various weapons, police in Ludwigshafen said.

The find was made near a car park on a road in Speyer on Monday, they said.

The DW newsroom in Bonn welcomes its readers to its rundown of headline stories from Germany as summer brings what may be a last bout of warm weather before the season ends.

We will be looking at a mysterious firearms find by police in western Germany, and at the US trip of Defense Minister Boris Pistorius at a time of some tension between Washington and Berlin.

And as many raise concerns about the surge of the far right in Germany, a new poll has shown that the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) continues to be the strongest party in the country.

Read on here for this and more Germany content.