Modern equipment is missing: the Bundeswehr gives bad testimony

Wednesday February 10, 2021

Modern equipment is missing
Bundeswehr gives itself bad testimony

The Bundeswehr is self-critical. Defense Minister Kramp-Karrenbauer and Inspector General Zorn complain that the troops are insufficiently prepared for future threats. Both propose a realignment in the armaments industry.

According to a report, the Bundeswehr is not adequately prepared for current security policy challenges; it lacks money and modern equipment. The Ministry of Defense and the Bundeswehr command posts must be tightened and realigned, quoted the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) from a joint position paper by Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer and Inspector General Eberhard Zorn on the future of the Bundeswehr.

In the eight-page paper, in which Kramp-Karrenbauer and Zorn comment together for the first time, a questionable picture is drawn, according to the report: Changes in the security situation and rapid economic and technological change encountered armed forces that are "underfunded", "not adequately prepared" and "one-sidedly geared towards foreign assignments"

The position paper therefore names Russia as a strategic competitor, which has recently increased its "military and political threats". There are "encroachments" and "attacks" on "the borders, the airspace, the territorial waters and the data room," the newspaper quoted on. Russia is "massively upgrading conventional and nuclear". This would result in "very specific threats to Germany," said Kramp-Karrenbauer and Zorn.

In the paper, the authors propose to equip the Bundeswehr significantly better. A realignment is necessary in the armaments industry. In the defense ministry, an organizational reform is to correct "staff-heavy" faulty structures and an oversized orientation towards peace and stabilization missions, the "FAZ" reported on. In addition to significant gaps in national defense, the coronavirus pandemic also revealed "the weak points with regard to territorial structures and management processes," says the position paper.

The reform proposals go in two directions: internal organization on the one hand, but also a more intensive public discussion about security policy. Therefore, the CDU politician and the general propose several new bodies, as the newspaper reported on: a National Security Council and a "Federal Security Advisory Board" in the ministry. In the Bundestag, aspects of security policy are to be discussed annually in a "security week".

A "Bundeswehr Planning Act" should put the financing of the armed forces "on solid, multi-year foundations without restricting the Bundestag's financial sovereignty". In addition, the basic principles for "homeland security" should be specified by April. By May, decrees for a "Bundeswehr of the future" are planned to readjust the "capabilities, structure and readiness for action" of the armed forces.

According to the report, the minister and the general announce several upcoming procurement projects and decisions worth more than 20 billion euros, for example on air defense and the euro drone. The decision on a new transport helicopter should be made by the end of June.