Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) wants to reform the Bundeswehr with around 200 measures. The “world” reports based on the 63-page plan, which should now be ready. The measures relate in particular to the areas of personnel, material and functionality.
According to a report, Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) has completed her plan for reforming the Bundeswehr. The 63-page paper had been sent to the staff council and other stakeholders in the Federal Ministry of Defense and should be presented to the Bundestag next week, reported the “Welt” on Thursday. According to her own statements, the report is available.
The report, which is classified as classified information, names around 200 measures with which Lambrecht wants to “increase the operational readiness and functionality of the Bundeswehr in the short, medium and long term”. The majority of these are test orders, options and suggestions, but not finished concepts.
The report is only the “start of changes,” according to “Welt” in the paper. The need for reform is “fundamental, diverse and enormous”, the package of measures presented “is not sufficient to break out the encrustations of decades”. There are “many individual adjustment screws that can and will be adjusted”.
According to the newspaper, the measures relate in particular to the areas of personnel, material and functionality. The target number of 203,300 soldiers in 2031 is being called into question. Although this target is the “current decision status”, it requires an additional increase of the same magnitude in addition to the annual regeneration of around 20,000 soldiers. That is “ambitious” and cannot be achieved without “profound measures”.
According to the newspaper report, “sustainable diversity management” is proposed as a concrete measure to break these trends in order to attract underrepresented social groups such as women and Germans with a migration background to the Bundeswehr. Contract periods for regular soldiers should be extended, soldiers withdrawn from civilian posts, and more and other recruiting methods attempted. The lowering of quality requirements is also not excluded.
According to “Welt”, the paper only says that the equipment gaps that are known should be closed and that “no new analysis is required here. Within the existing organization, the identified need for action must be implemented consistently.” At the moment, however, there is not even a reliable situation picture of the existing weapon systems “in order to be able to control the growth to full material equipment in a targeted manner”.
