The chief of staff of the German army considers it necessary for the Bundeswehr, currently being upgraded since the launch of the Russian war in Ukraine, to be “fit for war” in five years, in an interview published on Saturday . “Based on the various analyses, and when I see the potential threat that Russia poses, for us that means five to eight years of preparation,” General Carsten Breuer told the Sunday edition of the conservative newspaper Die Welt.
“This does not mean that there will be a war then. But it is possible. Because I am a soldier, I say: in five years, we must be ready for war,” he insisted. For the first time since the end of the Cold War, “we find ourselves faced with the possibility of an externally imposed war,” he warned. Aptitude for war means “much more” than defense capability, the senior officer continued. “Apart from personal and material availability, it is also about the necessary change of mentality to which we must submit.”
“That’s deterrence.”
There needs to be a “change of mentality, both in society and, above all, in the Bundeswehr”. In the end, it is “(…) placing the risk of an attack for an adversary at such a high level that he decides not to launch it”, he further detailed, adding: “that’s deterrence.” Viscerally pacifist since the horrors of Nazism, Germany has gradually questioned itself since the Russian offensive in Ukraine two years ago by beginning its rearmament, after relying for decades on the United States, via NATO.
Concerning the Atlantic Alliance, Carsten Breuer also recognized that his country could only make certain promised capabilities available later than planned, without wanting to specify their nature for security reasons. As part of the Alliance’s new deterrence and defense strategy, the country wants to maintain 35,000 soldiers in very high availability in the future. This includes a division of the army fully equipped and ready to intervene from 2025, and another from 2027. Added up to 200 planes and ships as well as military support capabilities, indicated the Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.