The Bundeswehr is missing every nook and cranny. The troops are not well positioned to defend their own country. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sparks new debates.
As a reaction to the Ukraine crisis, the chairman of the Bundeswehr Association, André Wüstner, called for an immediate program to improve the equipment of the troops and a further increase in the defense budget.
“Waiting is not even the second best option,” said Wüstner on Saturday on ZDF. “We have massive problems in the areas of ammunition, vehicles, ships, aircraft and spare parts.” Politicians must now “finally wake up”. This applies not only to the strategic realignment of Russia policy, but also to the deployment of the Bundeswehr.
The new CSU General Secretary Stephan Mayer also called for a significant increase in the defense budget on ZDF. It is important to “improve the alliance and defense capabilities of the Bundeswehr and, very specifically, to strive for the two percent target by 2023 if possible,” said Mayer. What is meant is the commitment of the NATO partners to spend two percent of the gross domestic product on defense by 2024. Most recently, Germany was at 1.55 percent and thus very far from the target.
Basic things are missing
Mayer said there were reports that the Bundeswehr was missing elementary things like warm underwear. That must be “an alarm signal for German politics”. Appropriate equipment is required. That is not to be equated with rearmament.
The army inspector Alfons Mais sounded the alarm on Thursday about the equipment of the Bundeswehr. In his 41st year of peacetime service, he didn’t think he would have to experience another war. “And the Bundeswehr, the army that I’m allowed to lead, is more or less blank,” he said.
Regarding the Ukrainian demands for German weapons and military equipment, Wüstner said on ZDF that the Bundeswehr itself was at the limits of its capabilities and supplies. “We can’t deliver what we don’t have ourselves,” he said.
Ukraine has submitted a wish list to the federal government that includes night vision, tracking and mine clearance devices. The federal government rejects the delivery of lethal weapons for reasons of principle, but may want to deliver other armaments. The list is still being checked.
“Armament alone cannot be the answer”
Meanwhile, SPD faction leader Rolf Mützenich warned against planning higher military spending as a sole reaction to the Ukraine war. “We will provide the Bundeswehr with everything it needs for its mission. But more rearmament cannot be the answer,” he told the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” (Saturday). “It would be wiser to finally pool our military forces in Europe.”
An SPD parliamentary group spokesman added on Saturday that Mützenich was not against better equipment for the Bundeswehr, i.e. not against a higher defense budget as in previous budget years. He only points out that rearmament cannot be the sole and wisest answer.
Mützenich told the newspaper that the NATO countries spend 1,000 billion US dollars a year on defense and that the Europeans are already investing many times the Russian budget in their military. He pinned his hopes on international disarmament and arms control treaties. “This is the only way we can make the world a safer place in the long term.”
«Managed for wear and tear»
Finance Minister and FDP leader Lindner had previously said “that the funds for the Bundeswehr must be increased” because the German armed forces “have been managed for many, many years to wear out”. German politics must learn that “defending the alliance is also a political priority”.
The foreign policy spokesman for the Greens parliamentary group, Jürgen Trittin, assumes that the war will have an impact on the first budget of the government made up of the SPD, Greens and FDP. “The equipment and skills deficiencies in the Bundeswehr must be remedied, as well as the deficits that we have in the field of diplomacy and development cooperation.” That is already in the coalition agreement. There are “blatant equipment deficiencies” in the Bundeswehr.
In addition, Germany must improve its capabilities for joint self-defense in the NATO alliance, for example in air defense. “That will put the coalition before discussions.” Trittin emphasized: “More money for external security in the current crisis situation does not fit with the dogma of the black zero.”
Source: Stern
David William is a talented author who has made a name for himself in the world of writing. He is a professional author who writes on a wide range of topics, from general interest to opinion news. David is currently working as a writer at 24 hours worlds where he brings his unique perspective and in-depth research to his articles, making them both informative and engaging.
