Key point: Germany’s military has been vastly underfunded.

The modern German armed forces, or Bundeswehr, were created just ten years after the end of World War II. Cold war tensions and the presence of Soviet troops in East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Poland made a West German defense force necessary.

The Bundeswehr eventually grew to one of the largest, well-equipped armed forces in the world, boasting twelve combat divisions, hundreds of combat aircraft in the Luftwaffe (German Air Force), and a formidable force of surface ships, submarines, and maritime aircraft in the Bundesmarine (Navy).

The end of the Cold War and the withdraw of the Red Army from Eastern Europe was a boon for European security. The National Volksarmee of East Germany and the Bundeswehr merged into a new national army. Inventories of ships, aircraft and armored vehicles were cut by up to seventy-five percent, and the German defense budget was cut further. Germany now spends just 1.2% of GDP on defense, far below the NATO recommended 2%.

In the past year, numerous articles have arisen demonstrating the Bundeswehr’s lack of readiness. Fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and other vehicles have been grounded due to lack of spare parts, bringing readiness rates below 50%.

Indeed, Germany’s military, while armed with some of the world’s most deadly weapons, faces some tremendous challenges. Below are five weapons platforms that in normal times would be truly deadly, however, face some very basic challenges if ever needed in combat, mostly due to a massive lack of underfunding and other problems.

Eurofighter Typhoon:

In the 1980s, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain teamed up to begin development of the Future European Fighter Aircraft, or FEFA. The first flight of what would become the Eurofighter Typhoon was in 1994, and Germany accepted its first Eurofighter in 2003. Budget cuts mean that the Luftwaffe will probably accept its last fighter sooner than anyone thought.

(This is being reposted from 2015 due to the recent NATO Summit)

The Eurofighter is likely the best non-fifth-generation fighter in existence. A combination of excellent maneuverability, powerful engines, AESA radar, infra-red search, and track sensor, and AMRAAM and Sidewinder missiles make Eurofighter a tough opponent in the air. Eurofighter’s air to ground capability is growing, and the Luftwaffe’s fighters have the ability to carry unguided bombs, laser-guided bombs, and Taurus cruise missiles.

Germany was originally buying 180 Eurofighters, but a canceled purchase in 2014 means only 143 fighters will be acquired. As of October 2014, only 42 of 109 Eurofighters were in flying condition, the rest grounded by lack of spare parts. At the same time, Germany reportedly halved annual flying hours for aircrews, fearing that the fuselage would become unstable.

Eurofighter Tornado:

Another fighter developed by a European defense consortium, the Tornado was developed by the United Kingdom, Italy, and Germany. Designed to penetrate enemy defenses by going in low and fast, the Tornado was one of the last swing-wing fighter jets. Since the end of the Cold War, however, the Tornado forces have suffered from chronic underfunding.

The Luftwaffe eventually acquired both the IDS (Interdiction/Deep Strike) and ECR (Electronic Combat and Reconnaissance) versions of the plane. During the Cold War, Germany’s Tornado attack jets were assigned the mission of bombing Warsaw Pact targets, particularly airfields. In the years since German reunification, Luftwaffe Tornados conducted aerial reconnaissance missions over Kosovo and Afghanistan.

The German Navy and Air Force received a total of 357 Tornado aircraft. Their numbers reduced after the Cold War, Germany plans to keep the remainder in service until 2025 or beyond. Like other German weapon systems the Tornados are underfunded and of August 2014, only 38 of 89 were operational.

Leopard II Main Battle Tank:

Developed in the 1970s by Krauss-Maffei as a replacement for the Leopard I, the Leopard II tank is still one of the best main battle tanks in existence. A logical extension of German postwar tactical doctrine, the Leopard II prioritized speed and firepower, making a highly mobile tank capable of exploiting changes on a fluid European battlefield. First fielded in 1979, the Leopard II is still in service today. Unfortunately, there are way too few of them.

The latest version of the Leopard II, the Leopard IIA7, incorporates a whole slew of upgrades meant to keep the tank viable until the 2030s. The A7 model features a longer barrel version of the same 120mm smoothbore gun, a third-generation thermal sights, increased composite armor protection, and an auxiliary power unit to run electronics without having to run the tank engine.

West Germany procured 2,125 Leopard IIs — enough to equip nearly twelve panzer (tank) and panzergrenadier (mechanized infantry) divisions. The end of the Cold War and declining defense budgets caused Germany to shed nearly 90% of its tank force, and today the Bundeswehr has just 225 Leopard II tanks.

G36 Assault Rifle:

In the 1990s, the Bundeswehr replaced the Heckler and Koch G3 battle rifle with the G36 assault rifle. A new design using a lighter, NATO standard 5.56-millimeter bullet, thirty round magazines, and integrated optics, the G36 was supposed to increase the firepower of German infantryman while lightening his load. 176,000 rifles were purchased.

After the Bundeswehr began deploying to Afghanistan it was discovered that the G36 was losing accuracy in combat. G36 rifles became inaccurate after sustained firing — a problem that may not have been obvious to a peacetime army. Still, it’s difficult to see how the defect was not noticed sooner.

After admitting the rifle was inaccurate, Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen announced the rifle had “no future” in the Bundeswehr. The German Defense Ministry has just announced the procurement of 600 HK417 assault rifles, to be issued by mid-2016. The HK417 is also built by Heckler and Koch.

Panzergrenadier Battalion 371:

Panzergrenadiers are the Bundeswehr’s mechanized infantry. Germany has nine panzergrenadier battalions—each fields 900 men, roughly fifty infantry fighting vehicles and MILAN and Panzerfaust 3 anti-tank weapons.

Last February, Panzergrenadier Battalion 371, based in Marienburg, was participating in a NATO exercise in Norway. News quickly spread that the battalion, part of NATO’s Rapid Reaction Force, suffered from a shortage of pistols and night vision goggles. A shortage of MG3 machine guns meant broomsticks were painted black and pressed into service to simulate them. A new report states that the situation was even worse: Panzergrenadier Battalion 371 had to borrow 14,371 pieces of equipment from a total of 56 other Bundeswehr units… and it was still short on equipment.

If a high priority NATO tasked unit was short over 14,000 pieces of equipment, it calls into question how deep the rot in the Bundeswehr goes—and Germany’s commitment to the alliance.

Kyle Mizokami is a defense and national-security writer based in San Francisco who has appeared in The Diplomat, Foreign Policy, War is Boring and The Daily Beast. In 2009 he cofounded the defense and security blog Japan Security Watch. You can follow him on Twitter: @KyleMizokami. This article first appeared in 2015.

Image: Reuters.

Source: https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/natos-real-problem-germanys-military-dying-102362

The post NATO’s Real Problem: Germany’s Military Is Dying first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

In the future, according to the will of Germany’s Defense Minister Kramp-Karrenbauer, the Bundeswehr needs to take much more responsibility and fight side by side with the allies. A noble and long overdue vision. However, does Germany possess military capabilities after having focused on diplomacy for decades and no real combat situations?

The idea was first brought up when Kramp-Karrenbauer (AKK) said the Bundeswehr could play an active part in a delicate mission between Turkish, Syrian, Kurdish and, not least, Russian forces after the Turks had invaded Northern Syria. Foreign Minister Maas and his SPD were outraged. The international response was ranged from shock to excitement, as Germany has been known for making excuses whenever dangerous combat missions require actual work from the international community.

A few days later, AKK reemphasized her plan by stating that the German armed forces should in future be more courageous and committed in foreign missions. As an example, she mentioned the conflict in Mali, where the division of labor with the French troops stationed there also means that the main burden of the fighting against Islamist terror lies with the French.

The French will happily confirm this notion immediately. Indeed, no nation, whether Americans, Britons, Italians or even the Poles would complain if Germany was to become more involved not only diplomatically and in terms of being glorified water boys, but also militarily.

Those, who oppose the new approach are German themselves. Pacifist, non-realists, who cannot bear the thought of German troops being involved in a combat mission, due to the country’s past. What they lack in solidarity to the other nations, who have done the heavy lifting in all these decades, they possess in finger-pointing whenever a state does not seem to listen to Germany’s “dispute resolutions”. It remains a shameful, irresponsible display of German foreign policy.

Apart from the political dispute, however, the military capabilities must be considered also. An increases engagement – or in Germany’s case an engagement – can only occur if the Bundeswehr is sufficiently equipped and trained. AKK realizes this and has pledged to finally satisfy the NATO agreement of spending 2 percent of GDP towards defense by 2031. What does not quite sound like German efficiency, is indeed a true paradigm shift at this stage. Usually, Germany would rather pay for a set of magic beans than for defense.

However, it also means that currently, Germany is simply not there yet. How could it be? Germany has sold or scrapped 90 percent of its tanks and 75 percent of its warships in recent decades, greatly reduced its air force and air defense while also suspending military service.

Accordingly, the Bundeswehr’s skills can also be described as rudimental at best. While practice tends to make perfect, procrastination delivers quite the opposite result. A cynic might argue the difference between Germany’s army and the Salvation Army is infinitesimal at this stage.

Particularly, as abilities for major military conflicts have been abandoned altogether, such as the landing with amphibious troops or ships for example. At the end of the Cold War, Germany still operated twenty-two landing crafts. Today, it operates one – and it is fifty-three years old. Six destroyers used to operate in the Baltic Sea. By now, the only “fleet” that is left consists of corvettes and frigates and are, thus useless for any combat mission. Moreover, many of the large and extremely expensive military systems have reached their time limits such as combat aircraft, transport helicopters, heavy tanks, and air defense. Maintaining the status quo carries enormous costs, costs that Germany has not been willing to invest in the past.

Currently, Germany is still spending only 1.2 percent of its GDP on defense. If the two-percent target was achieved by 2031, the Bundeswehr could provide ten percent of the NATO capabilities, as promised to the partners in the Alliance. It would be a welcomed sight and an adequate response to the end of Pax Americana.

Kramp-Karrenbauer has now laid the foundation for a stronger, more responsible Germany and one can only hope, that the rest of the politicians are cognizant enough to support a military rebuild. Europe’s de facto leader must not continue to hide behind other nations whenever the chips are on the table.

Moreover, Kramp-Karrenbauer has broken a German taboo by attempting to talk the Bundeswehr into relevance and one should commend her for it.

(image: Wikicommons)

Source: https://www.european-views.com/2019/11/kramp-karrenbauers-quest-for-a-meaningful-german-army/

The post Kramp-Karrenbauer’s Quest for a meaningful German Army first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

As reports about the threat of far-right recruitment among Europe’s law enforcement and military grow, German armed forces, or Bundeswehr, told VOA that they are working to keep far-right extremists away from their units or to remove them once they have been identified.

A spokesperson for the Military Counterintelligence Service (MAD) told VOA the military was expanding its cooperation with German security authorities and international partners to analyze links and connections of suspected right-wing extremists to try to expose them.

“There is no place whatsoever for extremists in any form, but especially right-wing extremists, in the Bundeswehr with its over 250,000 members,” the MAD spokesman, who did not wish to be named, said.

He said the military has taken several approaches to prevent infiltration by far-right extremists, including carrying out 16,000 security checks annually for all its applicants.

“We also take other preventive measures, aiming to encourage an improved reporting culture within the units through advisories, talks and our own publications,” the spokesperson added.

FILE – Members of the German army’s special forces secure an area while demonstrating their skills in training in Claw, near Stuttgart, July 14, 2014.

German media Sunday reported that the Bundeswehr had suspended an officer of its elite special forces, or Kommando Spezialkräfte, who had ties to right-wing elements. The Bild am Sonntag newspaper reported the officer and two other soldiers had been covertly investigated for months, which had exposed their neo-Nazi activities.

On Wednesday, outrage erupted on social media after the Bundeswehr posted on its Instagram channel a picture of a Nazi swastika uniform with the word “retro” on the top of it. Following the backlash, the Bundeswehr removed the post and apologized, saying its intention in the post was to show in the photo “a centuries-long influence of uniforms on fashion.”

VOA reached out to the German military officials for a comment on the officer’s suspension, but a Military Counterintelligence Service spokesperson said they were unable to comment on “specific operations.”

Far-right tendencies 

In recent years, some German officials and counter-extremism experts have cautioned against the rise in anti-Semitic and anti-immigration rhetoric among the country’s law enforcement following multiple reports of members showing far-right extremist tendencies.

Fabian Virchow, a professor at the University of Applied Sciences Düsseldorf and the director of the Research Unit on Right-Wing Extremism, told VOA that many far-right groups see police and the military as attractive recruitment grounds to expand their membership and enforce their ideology.

As an example, Virchow said, Alternative for Germany, a right-wing political party founded in 2013, has named a number of police officers as its leading personnel.

“Far-right extremists guess rightly that these two bodies are, on average, more conservative than the rest of the society. This refers mainly to the idea of law and order, which, from the perception of many, has been violated, especially during the crisis of the migration regime in 2015,” he said.

The penetration of far-right extremists and neo-Nazis into Germany’s law enforcement gained attention in April 2017, when German army officer Franco A. was accused of plotting a right-wing terror attack he seemingly hoped would be mistaken for Islamist extremism.

FILE – Soldiers of the German KSK attend an exercise close to Putgarten, Germany, Sept. 28, 2015.

The chief of MAD, Christof Gramm, recently said 20 soldiers at Kommando Spezialkräfte (KSK), the special forces command composed of soldiers selected from the Bundeswehr, are under investigation for suspicious ties to right-wing extremists.

Earlier this year, MAD admitted it had under-reported the numbers of alleged cases, saying it could be as many as 450, news magazine Der Spiegel reported. Of those cases, MAD said 64 were suspected of membership in the Identitarian movement, while another 64 were tied to Reichsbürger.

Originating in France and active in Germany since 2012, Identitarian is a right-wing movement asserting the need to preserve the “European” culture from immigrants, especially Muslim immigrants. Reichsbürger, another far-right group, does not recognize the legitimacy of the modern German state but instead believes in reviving the 1871 borders of the German empire.

Virchow, of the University of Applied Sciences Düsseldorf, said the risk of radicalization in the military has been downplayed. He said many officials fear that an investigation could lead to exposing structural problems with racism in the police.

“A very urgent task to do should be a scientific investigation of to what an extent police units hold racist and anti-Semitic ideas. To make sure that the police and the military, as the two armed structures in society, stay absolutely loyal to democracy and actively defend it is key,” he said.

Transnational issue

Some experts say combating the threat of right-wing infiltration of the police will likely require collective action from European countries. They say similar reports of radicalization among law enforcement of other European countries show the issue is transnational.

FILE – This Dec. 2, 2016, photo shows the headquarters of Europol in the Netherlands.

The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, known as Europol, concluded that violence related to right-wing extremism was rising in many EU states, according to a confidential report cited by Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung, one of the country’s main daily newspapers, in September.

The report said the groups were pursuing military and police members to boost their “combat skills.”

Daniel Koehler, the director of the German Institute in Radicalization and De-Radicalization Studies (GIRDS), told VOA that by infiltrating law enforcement and the military of European countries, right-wing groups are trying to secure a long-term power base and shield themselves against any potential future repression by their governments.

“The hope to easily connect to soldiers and police officers ideologically is not that far off, since the far right’s approach through patriotism, nationalism, anti-communism or even blatant racism and anti-Semitism, as well as a positive stance towards violence, might resonate with many others who feel attracted to serve in the military or police,” Koehler said.

He said certain European countries have taken important steps in countering this potential threat, particularly in the United Kingdom, where mandatory training is provided to officers to more easily spot far-right radicalization.

However, “a more proactive approach” to embedding the concept of countering violent extremism (CVE) — actions to thwart extremist efforts to recruit, radicalize and mobilize followers to violence — within law enforcement “should be taken,” he said.

Source: https://www.voanews.com/extremism-watch/no-place-right-wing-extremists-ranks-german-army-says

The post No Place for Right-Wing Extremists in Ranks, German Army Says first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Germany has traditionally prioritized defense over offense in cyberspace. That’s now beginning to change.

The post Germany Develops Offensive Cyber Capabilities Without A Coherent Strategy of What to Do With Them first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.