Dress uniforms for 825 million? Dispute over troop priorities

The Bundeswehr has been struggling with the current dress uniforms for a long time, now the time has come. According to “Bild am Sonntag”, the Federal Ministry of Defense wants to spend 825 million euros on new dress uniforms for its soldiers. The budget committee received a corresponding request on Thursday, the newspaper reported. Of the 825 million euros, 306 million are already contractually bound but have not yet been spent.

According to the ministry’s wishes, the budget committee should decide on the missing 519 million euros for the new dress uniforms at its next meeting, as “BamS” reported. With a strength of around 200,000 people, that amounts to 4,000 euros per soldier.

The newspaper quoted CDU budget expert Ingo Gädechens, who accused the federal government of setting “absurd priorities.” The uniforms would “not make the Bundeswehr any more combat-ready,” said Gädechens. The “incredibly large sum” raises “many questions”.

The Ministry of Defense explained on Sunday that it was about “modernization and renewal measures” in the areas of combat, work and sports clothing as well as service clothing. According to the ministry, this service clothing is “worn every day by tens of thousands of soldiers in the so-called internal service in the associations, commands but also in integrated deployments at NATO and the EU.” This also includes “a portion of dress uniforms.”

The modernization of service clothing had already been decided in 2018, but was then postponed in order to first renew “important combat clothing and equipment for the troops,” as the Ministry of Defense explained on Sunday. This has happened in recent years. Now “the proportion of work clothing can be further implemented”.

The uniform is worn outside military installations as a dress uniform and within military installations on official occasions such as roll calls, vows or funeral ceremonies. It consists, among other things, of several elements such as a service jacket, service shirt, trousers and peaked cap. The uniforms vary in color depending on whether it is the army, air force or navy. However, no major model change is planned.

Many soldiers, especially in the army, are unhappy with their dress uniform. There won’t be a really new design. The ministry only wants a few adjustments to the cut and material to improve fit and comfort, according to the newspaper.

The issue seems out of place because the Bundeswehr suffers from a lack of money despite having special funds. Defense Minister Pistorius has announced a need of 58 billion euros for 2025. “As things stand, we will be awarded around 52 billion euros. That means we will be short of almost six billion euros next year,” complained Pistorius.

The SPD budget politician Andreas Schwarz, who is responsible for the project, admitted to the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” on Sunday that “in view of the overall budgetary situation, there are certainly purchases that have a much higher priority.” He cited ammunition and vehicles as examples. “The political signals that are currently reaching me indicate that the decision will be postponed until the next legislative period.”