German defence report sparks hysterical campaign for increased military spending
By
Johannes Stern
2 February 2019
The German government’s latest defence report has sparked hysterical calls for increased military spending in the country’s political circles and the media. The report, presented on Tuesday, paints the picture of a still ailing and broken army. “Too little staff on the one hand, missing materiel on the other,” it says in the first section. Often there are “gaps on top of gaps,” and “the troops [are] far away” from being “fully equipped.”
The parliamentary Defence Commissioner Hans-Peter Bartels (Social Democratic Party, SPD), lists his complaints over more than 120 pages. “There is a lack of materiel in all areas.” There are “barely any operational Leopard 2 [battle tanks],” “no tankers in the Navy” and “a large part of the submarine” fleet was “broken.” In addition, “less than half of the Eurofighters and Tornados are airworthy” and ammunition stocks have been “reduced to a minimum.”
Also, “the spare parts situation” had “not improved,” and there were “far too little basics like personal gear (vests, boots, clothing, modern helmets, night vision devices) to provide for every soldier.” Supposedly, the Bundeswehr (Armed Forces) succeeded “only with great effort” to “equip the 8,000 German soldiers with winter clothing and protective vests, who took part in the NATO exercise Trident Juncture in Norway this autumn.”
The establishment media and parties have reacted to the report with anger and indignation. The Frankfurter Rundschau lamented the “disastrous shortages in the Bundeswehr,” the Süddeutsche Zeitung claimed that soldiers would have to mend their overalls themselves, and finance…