The Bundeswehr’s stocks fell steadily until 2021 and have only increased very slowly since then. The Kiel Institute for the World Economy has a clear demand.
Germany is rearming in the face of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine – but only slowly, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW). “Russia is becoming an ever greater security threat to NATO,” said Guntram Wolff of the IfW. “At the same time, we are making very slow progress with the rearmament necessary for deterrence.”
In addition to the special fund, what Europe needs is a significant and immediate increase in German defense spending to at least two percent of gross domestic product, stressed Wolff. “Carrying on as before would be negligent and irresponsible in view of Russia’s aggression.” So far, NATO’s two percent target has been achieved by including the expenditure from the special fund for the Bundeswehr.
Report documents military procurement
The German government is currently only just managing to replace the weapons being shipped to Ukraine. The stock of air defense systems and mobile launch units such as artillery howitzers is even declining. According to the IfW, Germany will not begin to increase its defense spending to any significant extent until 2023.
As the institute’s current “Kiel Report” shows, orders worth around 90 million euros have been placed since then. The report documents all published German military procurements since 2020.
Drastic disarmament and slow rearmament
At the same time, stocks have continued to decline over the past 20 years. According to the report, there were around 434 combat aircraft, 2,398 battle tanks and 978 howitzers in Germany in 2004, but the number fell to 226 aircraft, 339 tanks and 121 howitzers in 2021.
At the same time, it is predicted that at the current procurement rate it will take many years to get the inventory back to the 2004 level – according to the report, this will take around 15 years for fighter jets and around 40 years for battle tanks. It will take until 2121 for howitzers to reach the 2004 level.
According to the IfW, this is due on the one hand to the drastic disarmament of the past decades and on the other hand to the still too slow rearmament under the traffic light government.
IfW President: Turning point is still just an empty phrase
The President of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Moritz Schularick, stressed: “The turning point is still just an empty phrase.” Peace will only come when Moscow understands that it cannot win a war of aggression in Europe militarily.
To achieve this, Germany and Europe need credible military capabilities. Schularick therefore demanded that Germany have an “adequate defense budget” of at least 100 billion euros per year.
Source: Stern
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