Berlin to increase military budget by billions of dollars
Germany says it intends to spend billions of dollars to improve its military hardware and repair their recurring problems.
“We will invest up to €6 billion ($6.5 billion) in the next seven to eight years to obtain improvements in these areas,” a German defense ministry spokesperson told AFP on Friday.
German news weekly Der Spiegel was the first to reveal the investment program and wrote that the army planned 120 measures to increase personnel and stocks of spare parts.
The news weekly cited “numerous” defense documents, which confirmed the “hardware problems constraining the capacity” of the unified armed forces of Germany, Bundeswehr (German for federal defense).
According to Der Spiegel, German Eurofighter jets have radar problems and malfunctions of the on-board winches of NH90 transport helicopters are so serious that only four of military's 39 NH90 copters are operational.
The country’s military has been under harsh criticism over the decrepit condition of its warfare. For example, the army stopped using the G36 assault rifle when it was ridiculed due to its problems in firing straight in high temperatures.
Late in September, German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen acknowledged major shortfalls in equipment of the Bundeswehr's military, particularly in the air force. She said Germany is unable to meet its commitments to NATO in the event of an attack on an alliance member, adding “delays for replacement parts for our planes and the missing helicopters are the reason for this.”
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