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1 octobre 2014 3 01 /10 /octobre /2014 10:50
Germany's Disarmed Forces: Ramshackle Military at Odds with Global Aspirations

 

September 30, 2014 By SPIEGEL Staff

 

Germany wants to strengthen its role in international affairs. But recent reports suggest the country's weapons systems are in such disrepair that Berlin actually has very little to offer its partners.

 

Last week, a single person pushed Germany's air force to the very limits of its capacities: Ursula von der Leyen, the country's defense minister. Von der Leyen requested that two Transall military transport aircraft with missile defense systems be transferred to Amman, the Jordanian capital. The defense minister and a pool of reporters then flew for eight hours on Thursday morning in one of the aircraft to Erbil in Iraq's Kurdish region. Back in Germany, the military had but a single additional Transall at its disposal.

After her arrival in Erbil, von der Leyen proceeded to the palace of the Kurdish regional government's president. Her visit was to be concurrent with the delivery of German weapons, intended to aid the Kurds in their fight against Islamic State jihadists. Unfortunately, the machine guns and bazookas got stuck in Germany and the trainers in Bulgaria because of a dearth of available aircraft. One had been grounded because of a massive fuel leak. What could have been a shining moment for the minister instead turned into an embarrassing failure underscoring the miserable state of many of the Bundeswehr's most important weapons systems.

 

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Germany's Disarmed Forces: Ramshackle Military at Odds with Global Aspirations
Bundeswehr - Operational Capability of Select Weapons Systems
Weapons System Total Number Available Deployable
Tiger helicopter 31* 10 10
NH90 helicopter 33* 8 8
Sea King helicopter 21 15 3
Sea Lynx helicopter 22 18 4
CH53 helicopter 83 43 16
Eurofighter fighter jet 109 74 42
Tornado fighter jet 89 66 38
K130 corvette 5 2 2
U212 submarine 4 1 1
Frigates 11 8 7
Marder tank 406 280 280
Boxer tank 180 70 70
Total stock = all procured units
Available = in operation, including systems currently out of service because of maintenance or repair
Deployable = can be used immediately for missions, exercises or training

*includes pre-production models
Source: Bundeswehr German Armed Forces
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