Waiting for warm underwear yourself for years? The Bundeswehr was used to that up until now. Not to mention tanks, planes and ships. But the military commissioner notes: Something is moving.
Efforts to speed up the procurement of weapons, material and equipment for the Bundeswehr are showing initial success, according to the observations of the Armed Forces Commissioner, Eva Högl. “I’m cautiously optimistic that things are progressing. I’m already seeing improvements,” said Högl at the federal press conference in Berlin on Saturday.
As an example, she cited the acceleration in procuring personal equipment for soldiers. 2.4 billion euros have been made available for this purpose. The Bundestag combined this with the request to equip all soldiers with helmets, backpacks, protective vests and protection against cold and rain by 2025, not by 2030. “And I have already noticed in many associations that the material is well received.” The soldiers were happy about it.
Improving procurement processes has been a hot topic since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine in February last year. “We’re working hard on it,” said the Bundestag Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces at the press conference on the federal government’s open day.
Högl: Internal processes are being improved
Högl referred to the law passed by the Bundestag to accelerate procurement. In addition, more equipment available on the market is bought and less is developed in-house – such as the American F35 fighter jets as a successor to the Tornado. And they are in the process of improving internal processes and procedures.
But there is still so much that can be accelerated and processes changed, one thing is clear: “The Bundeswehr needs money,” said the SPD politician, who sees herself in her office as a non-partisan advocate for all soldiers. Reaching NATO’s two percent target, i.e. investing two percent of economic output in defense, is “quite a long way” for Germany. “The Commissioner for the Armed Forces would like the two percent target to be reached because she knows that the Bundeswehr urgently needs the money in order to be fully operational.”
The soldiers have “high expectations when it comes to the turn of the century,” said the military commissioner. They rightly expected the “very best general conditions” for their tasks. She would also like the soldiers to have the interest, appreciation, respect and pride of society as a whole. “They deserve it too.” She has noticed a positive development here since the start of the Ukraine war.
Source: Stern
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