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The Bad News Bundeswehr An Examination of the Truly Dire State of Germany's Military [1]

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Date: 2023-01-22

DER SPIEGEL posted the article a few days ago. It explains the reluctance to release the Leopards. It was updated to acknowledge the Defense Minister change. In German politics a single party rarely has the majority to form a government. The current coalition — The leaders of the Social Democrats, Greens and the Free Democrats met in Berlin to officially sign their three-party coalition deal.

I mention this because

But politics are at play, too. Both the Social Democrats and the Greens, the largest members of the governing coalition, have strong pacifist wings that party leaders, like Mr. Scholz, cannot ignore. From NYT.

So on to story. The previous Defense Minister did not even have an accurate inventory of battle ready Leopards. This has been corrected (apologies for cropped photo)

So instead of 4700 tanks there are 300. This is no excuse for not allowing other countries to donate their Leopards but when German people saw these numbers in surely tightened some anal sphincters.

The numbers are confusing because the Bundeswehr doesn’t measure the operational readiness of various weapons systems relative to the numbers it has on its books, but relative to the "available inventory." That number is always much lower given that a significant number of vehicles and weapons systems are, at any given time, undergoing refurbishment. For example, the books show that the Bundeswehr possesses more than 300 Leopard 2 battle tanks. Around two-thirds of them are "available," but of that number, just 60 percent – around 130 – are operational. (my bold)

OUCH! Now they are really tight.

Next on the list is the NATO battle group in Lithuania, which has been boosted to over 1,000 soldiers for the foreseeable future in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. For personnel, the traffic light is green, as is the case for training and leadership. But when it comes to equipment, it’s yellow. According to the accompanying explanation, the army is currently unable to send artillery units to Lithuania. The Bundeswehr has for years suffered from a shortage of artillery, a problem made worse by arms deliveries to Ukraine. It will take several years for this deficit to be eliminated.

Anti-aircraft defense is likewise deficient due to parallel commitments to the NATO rapid reaction force. "After the cessation of the multinational contribution, this will lead to a qualified shortage of corresponding organic capabilities starting in quarter I of 2023," the report reads, in a fine example of military bureaucratese.

It is a rather long article so I won’t C&P its entirety. I found it enlightening as to why so many Germans support Ukraine but don’t want to weaken their own defensive capabilities. Meanwhile Scholz is trying to hold his coalition together and stay in power. Name of the game everywhere it seems.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/22/2148649/-The-Bad-News-Bundeswehr-An-Examination-of-the-Truly-Dire-State-of-Germany-s-Military

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