Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Germany's military may be weakest in Europe

Only 4 out of 128 Eurofighter Typhoons are combat ready.  And the rest of the military is even worse off:
Cost-cutting procurement strategies have caused problems elsewhere over the past year for the Bundeswehr:
  • The German Navy has had to refuse delivery of the first of its new class of frigates after the ship failed sea trials, and only five of the Navy's existing 13 frigates were capable of being deployed.
  • The last available German submarine was pulled out of service for repairs, as all the other submarines in the fleet sit in drydock or sit idle due to lack of replacement parts. (One of those submarines may now be back in service.)
  • The German Army was found to lack enough tanks and armored personnel carriers, or even enough basic equipment for soldiers, to fulfill its commitment to NATO's Very High Readiness Task Force at the beginning of 2019. While 105 out of 244 Leopard 2 tanks were called "ready for use," only nine could be fully armed for the VHRF.
  • Only 12 of 62 Tiger attack helicopters and 16 of Germany's 72 CH-53 cargo helicopters were available for exercises and operations last year; the rest were grounded for maintenance.
  • At any time over the last year, only three of the Bundeswehr Airbus A400M transport aircraft were ready to fly.
But never fear, the Bundeswehr remains confident:
And as Der Spiegel's Matthias Gebauer was told by a Bundeswehr source, "We can say with a good conscience that large parts of the [German armed forces] are mission ready, because there is currently no mission."
Can someone please help me understand why we still pay cash money to protect Europe?


4 comments:

Fredrick said...

"Can someone please help me understand why we still pay cash money to protect Europe?"

So they can create the cradle-to-grave welfare state liberals love and then welcome the world in to enjoy the fruits of their forefathers work rather than do the hard work of creating a first world civilization back home.

Rick C said...

That article mentions giving up spare parts stockpiles in favor of JIT ordering.

I bet that'll work REALLY WELL in an actual shooting war. Can you imagine some general calling up a supplier while the Russians are rolling west, saying he needs 1000 meters of tank treads tomorrow, and by the way, can they pretty please ship it directly to the front?

tiredWeasel said...

Well, you can still use bases located in Germany and it's not like you're renting them ;)

But the desolate state of the Bundeswehr is not due to lack of finances it's because of disastrous leadership.
So it's not that different from your armed forces. Say, how many carriers and ships are combat ready atm...?

Rick C. pointed out one of the biggest problems in keeping the arsenal combat ready - the lack of spare parts.
Another problem ist the corruption which runs deep in procurement.
Our old/new Verteidigungsminister is just the "Gnadenstoss" :D

B said...

Hey, gotta pay for that Welfare State somehow! Why worry, the Americans will cover for the Bundeswhehr.

Nearly all of Europe is hiding behind the US's skirts and using that money to pay for the tens of thousands of "Refugees" they have to feed....