BERLIN — Germany's military is overstretched and underfunded as its troops are engaged in anti-jihadist missions from Syria and Afghanistan to Mali while also aiding refugees at home, the defense commissioner said Tuesday, according to Agence France-Presse.
Plagued by a series of defense equipment failures, the military is "at a crossroads" and has reached "the limit of its capacity for interventions," said Hans-Peter Bartels.
Founded in 1955, the Bundeswehr had a peak force of 600,000 at the end of the Cold War when West Germany conscripted young men, and has since shrunk to a 177,000-strong volunteer force.
"The force is tired. Too much is lacking," said Bartels, a center-left Social Democrat lawmaker, demanding a significant budget increase in his annual report.
Systemic budget shortages now endanger training, military exercises and missions, while many barracks are crumbling, said Bartels, known in Berlin as "the soldiers' attorney."
Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen has pledged a greater role for Germany in international crisis fighting, marking a shift for post-World War II Germany which has long been reluctant to send troops abroad for combat missions.
According to press reports on Tuesday, relying on government sources, the German MoD is preparing a steep increase in investment in weapons and material over the coming years. The plan is to spend bln €130 billion (US $140.6 billion) until Euro till 2030 on equipment and research and development. r&d.
While the MoD did not comment, denied any comments, Tobias Linder, MP for the Green Party in the Bundestag and member of the budget committee, said reckons that this means an extra bln €50 Euros in that period and the cancellation of caps for main weapon systems that were introduced by von der Leyen`s predecessor.
Lindner said critizises that the MoD should first solve the current problems of low equipment availability rates and poor maintenance before starting to buying new weapons, while the procurement organization is hampered by inefficiencies and management problems.
German forces are currently engaged in the international alliance against the Islamic State group, including by arming and training Kurdish forces in northern Iraq and flying reconnaissance missions over Syria with Tornado jets.
German lawmakers in December authorized the deployment of up to 1,200 personnel for the operation, which also includes an A310 aerial refuelling plane and a frigate to help guard the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle in the Mediterranean.
Berlin also plans to send an additional 500 troops to Mali to relieve French forces in the west African country, where Germany is already part of an EU military training mission.
In November, Germany also decided to increase to 980 its troop strength in Afghanistan to train and support national forces.
The engagements come as the German Army has been plagued by a series of equipment failures.
It is phasing out the G36 assault rifle after reports it has failed to shoot straight at high temperatures. Its Tornado surveillance aircraft cannot fly night missions because of a glare problem involving cockpit displays and pilots' goggles.
And across its fleet of fighter jets, helicopters and Transall C-160 transport aircraft, it is falling short of its target of 70 percent operational readiness, said the report.
Meanwhile, thousands of troops have been mobilised at home to house and support asylum-seekers, of whom a record 1.1 million arrived last year.
To help the military cope, parliament has approved raising its budget from
33 billion euros ($36 billion) in 2015 to 35 billion euros annually over four years.
However, Bartels argued this would equal only 1.07 percent of gross domestic product, far below the NATO-member goal of two percent of GDP.
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