The German military is short of personnel and equipment despite a greater role overseas and its commitment to European security, the parliamentary commissioner for the armed forces said Tuesday
BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th January, 2020) The German military is short of personnel and equipment despite a greater role overseas and its commitment to European security, the parliamentary commissioner for the armed forces said Tuesday.
Hans-Peter Bartels complained about all-pervading scarcity faced by the military on a parliamentary channel after submitting his 2019 annual report to President Wolfgang Schaeuble earlier in the day.
"The armed forces are under strain, while the announced plans to make the military service easier for soldiers by providing more troops and equipment are taking time to materialize," he said.
This is in contrast to Germany's increased engagement in Afghanistan, Africa, Balkans and more recently in the European Union's collective security, which was requested from it in 2014.
Bundeswehr is still feeling the effect of the 2011 reform when a lot of equipment was handed out to allies or simply scrapped in the belief that Germany could allow slimming down its military a bit more.
"Soldiers are missing it all now as well as modern technology that has not arrived yet... We are talking about infantry fighting vehicles, frigates, new helicopters," Bartels specified.
The military has also been struggling to fill its ranks after mandatory conscription was abolished eight years ago. Some 21,000 officer positions were left vacant last year, while the number of new recruits was the second worst since 2011, he said.
