In the face of NATO's confrontation with Russia, the European members of the alliance, with multilateral support from the United States, are increasing the combat readiness of their own armed forces and striving to improve mutual coordination in the military sphere. Germany is no exception. Although the Ukrainian crisis did not become a pretext here for the modernization of the army, systematic work to increase the combat capability of the Bundeswehr is being carried out more intensively; at the same time, it is being modified in accordance with the geopolitical situation, taking into account the fact that in the expansion of the Rapid Reaction Force Germany is assigned the role of a responsible coordinator.
During the entire period after the unification of Germany, military construction was aimed at transforming the Bundeswehr from a NATO "strike force" opposing the Warsaw Pact into an army capable of sending contingents to participate in peacekeeping operations. Based on the fact that a large army was not required to carry out such tasks, universal conscription was abolished in most NATO countries. However, in Germany they delayed the withdrawal of conscription: the main protagonists in politics (Christian Democrats) insisted that the preservation of conscription ensures the connection between the army and society, and the military indicated that conscripts provide 40% of the personnel recruitment. The conscription remained, but the terms of service of conscripts were reduced, and by 2010 young Germans were conscripted for only six months. Since it is impossible to qualitatively prepare a soldier to perform combat missions in six months, the army was actually divided into more and less combat-ready units. According to the European Defense Agency, in 2011 the number of military personnel capable of taking part in hostilities was 7 thousand in Germany, and in France and Great Britain that canceled the conscription - 30 and 22 thousand, respectively.
At the same time, in German society, the conscription was perceived as an anachronism, which further reduced the prestige of military service. As a result, a fundamental decision was made at the top to carry out a reform that would provide, at first glance, mutually exclusive goals: increasing combat effectiveness while continuing to reduce the defense budget and switching to the voluntary principle of manning. The number of personnel was reduced from 240 to 185 thousand people. Since the start of the Ukrainian crisis, some retired generals have openly regretted the withdrawal from the draft. Hans-Peter Bartels (head of the parliamentary defense committee, member of the SPD) believes that the withdrawal from the draft was too hasty (which is strange considering that the Social Democrats demanded the abolition of the draft in the early 2000s), but the draft half a year is completely meaningless. Be that as it may, the current German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen intends to maintain the voluntary principle of manning the army; however, the appeal was not legally canceled, but suspended. This means that it can be restored without formal delays.
German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen is fond of personal PR, and in his leadership style he demonstrates a disregard for the specifics of the Armed Forces.
By the start of the Ukrainian crisis, the reform bravura launched by Karl-Theodor zu Gutenberg, who served as defense minister in 2009-2011, was modestly called “reorganization” (Neuausrichtung) without any special political decisions. By definition, the reorganization must ensure that the Bundeswehr fulfills its function as an “integral instrument of security policy”. After the start of the reform, two defense ministers were replaced; in the current cabinet, the ministry is headed by Ursula von der Leyen, whose appointment caused bewilderment in society, not to mention the conservatist-inclined Bundeswehr - a woman had never before led the Armed Forces. Leyen is fond of public relations of his own person (which reminds of Gutenberg), and in his leadership style he demonstrates a disregard for the pronounced specifics of the Armed Forces. This fundamentally distinguishes the current minister from her predecessor, Thomas de Maizières (Minister of Defense 2011-2013). Perhaps his style was imprinted by a family tradition: the minister's father, General Ulrich de Mezières, was one of the organizers of the FRG army in the post-war period. In contrast, von der Leyen tends to solve problems in purely technocratic ways. For example, personnel problems, including the recruitment of volunteers, are supposed to be solved by making the Bundeswehr "the most attractive employer in Germany", and failures in the fulfillment of a defense order - by optimizing the relationship between the customer and the arms supplier. Some experts warn that this approach threatens to make von der Leyen herself "part of the problem." Such a warning seems quite reasonable, given that most defense ministers did not part from their posts of their own free will. The aforementioned zu Gutenberg was forced to leave his post and even retired from politics after a scandal over accusations of plagiarism while writing a dissertation. Of the 17 FRG defense ministers, many were predicted to be chancellors (from Franz-Josef Strauss to zu Gutenberg), but only Helmut Schmidt succeeded. Leyen is often credited with ambitious plans. All the more reason for her to achieve popularity among the military. It is quite natural that Leyen's first initiative was a project aimed at increasing the attractiveness of military service.
INCREASING THE ATTRACTIVENESS OF THE MILITARY SERVICE
The personnel problem was the starting point of the reform begun under Gutenberg. But, despite the layoffs, it did not solve the problem of staff shortage, but posed it in a new way. Now it is required, on the one hand, to ensure a constant influx of volunteers, and on the other, to eliminate the shortage of qualified personnel in a number of specialties and to prevent the withdrawal of highly-demanded specialists from the Armed Forces. Military service is still not considered prestigious. According to polls, 2/3 of Germans would dissuade relatives and friends from the military profession, although 8 out of 10 people have a positive idea of the military. “If we need a strong, efficient, flexible Bundeswehr, then there is nothing left to do but to make the service attractive,” Leyen said.
The personnel problem became the starting point for the reform of the Bundeswehr.
The project to increase the attractiveness of the service covers a wide range of measures, which are legally formalized by a special law on increasing the attractiveness of the Bundeswehr, which entered into force in April 2015. In accordance with the provisions of the law, for the first time in the history of the Bundeswehr, a standardized working day is introduced for the main staff, i.e. … members of the armed forces are treated as civil servants and will have a fixed working week of 41 hours, as stipulated by the EU Working Hours Directive 2003/88 / EC. In cases where a 41-hour week is not possible (for example, for participants in foreign missions, seafarers, in the fight against natural disasters, etc.), employees will receive monetary compensation.
In terms of wages, it is planned to introduce personal allowances, increase pay for the period of participation in exercises, etc. The pay increase will affect 22 thousand military and 500 civil servants. From November 1, 2015, the monthly salary of military personnel will be increased by 60 euros (at the beginning of 2015 it ranged from 777 to 1146 euros). Social guarantees are expanding, for example, the conditions for retirement before reaching retirement age for professional military personnel are improving, and the severance pay is increasing for contract servicemen. In 2015-2017. The Ministry of Defense intends to spend 764.2 million euros on additional material incentives for servicemen, and 750 million euros on improving infrastructure (mainly, it is about the repair of household premises).
The initial weakness of the law is that the emphasis is on material incentives, however, due to the specifics of military service, material incentives cannot guarantee a complete solution to the problem. In addition, the majority of servicemen are satisfied with the level of wages. For example, among volunteers, 83% are satisfied with the payment. On the other hand, it is quite logical to use material incentives to attract qualified personnel (and in the Bundeswehr they complain about the lack of logistics specialists, engineers and medical workers). The positive reaction of the military to the initiative of the new minister is also natural. Now, in assessments of its activities, the appeal prevails not to blame Leyen for the mistakes of her predecessors.
Also, measures of a purely advertising nature were taken, aimed at attracting young people to military service. The distribution of advertising brochures began, a recruiting center was opened in Berlin - a platform where those who wish can obtain information of interest directly from the military and have an interview. The Bundeswehr took part in the largest youth career guidance fair traditionally held in Dortmund. This summer, the Bundeswehr Day will be held for the first time, during which several barracks will be open to the public and displays of modern military equipment will be organized. A special prize has been introduced for a successful advertising campaign. In the future, the Bundeswehr Day will be held annually.
The fact that the campaign is reaching its goal can be judged by the numbers of volunteers recruited. In 2013, 8, 3 thousand volunteers came to the Armed Forces, and in 2014 - already 10, 2 thousand, which is slightly less than the last draft - 12 thousand conscripts. The minister believes that, ideally, 60 thousand young people should apply to recruiting centers annually so that the Armed Forces have the opportunity to select 15-20 thousand volunteers through a competition. These are clearly overestimated expectations: after all, the task is not simply to attract as many volunteers as possible. So far, only 25% of them intend to stay in the army and sign a contract. According to a recent survey, 2/3 of volunteers questioned the meaningfulness of their service. This is partly due to the fact that the places have been created for only 5 thousand recruits, and the rest simply have nowhere to "attach". In general, we can conclude that reality does not live up to the expectations of young people, fueled by advertising. According to polls, less than a third of volunteers are satisfied with the service, and only a quarter believe that they have learned something useful.
DEFENSE ORDER
An equally serious chronic problem of the Bundeswehr is the improper fulfillment of defense orders. In 2014, von der Leyen authorized KPMG, P3 and Taylor Wessing to conduct an independent audit of the largest defense orders: for the production of Puma infantry fighting vehicles, A400M transport aircraft, Eurofighter fighters, NH90 transport helicopters, Tiger attack helicopters, F125 class frigates, TLVS tactical air defense system, tracking and reconnaissance systems SLWUA, as well as radio equipment SVFuA. These orders cover 2/3 of all armament costs, their total value is about 57 billion euros. In the final report, the auditors came to a very trivial general conclusion about the unsatisfactory state of order fulfillment: failure to meet deadlines, rise in price, and low quality of finished equipment.
It is good that in Germany they no longer make armored vehicles with a staggered arrangement of rollers, otherwise the Bundeswehr repairmen would hardly fit into the 41-hour working week.
The maximum delay in deliveries is approaching 10 years. Thus, an agreement from 1998 with EUROCOPTER (currently Airbus Helicopters) provided for the delivery of 80 UH Tiger helicopters by the end of 2011, but at the end of 2014 only 36 were delivered.provided for the supply of 134 NH90 transport helicopters, and by the end of 2013, 106 machines were delivered. The first A400M transport aircraft was delivered in December 2014, four years late. At the same time, in 2014, the military expected to receive two aircraft, and in accordance with even earlier plans, five. The entire German order has been reduced from 60 to 53 aircraft, with the Luftwaffe retaining only 40 of them.
Problems are not only in aviation: for example, deliveries of Puma infantry fighting vehicles (manufactured by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and Rheinmetall), intended to replace obsolete Marder BMPs, are nine years late. The press cited data on the rise in the cost of this project by 666 million euros, so that the entire delivery of 350 cars will cost 3, 7 billion euros. Under the agreement signed in 2004, the cost of one BMP was 6.5 million euros, but by February 2014, according to the Ministry of Defense, it had already grown to 9.9 million euros.
In total, 50 of the 93 orders of the Bundeswehr worth over 25 million euros have risen in price: 59.6 billion euros will have to be paid for the delivery, which is 8% (or 4.3 billion euros) higher than the contractual amounts.
At the time of delivery, the products not only turn out to be more expensive than stipulated in the contract, but also do not meet the customer's expectations. For example, BMP Puma only after 2018 will be supplied complete with ATGM SPIKE-LR (MELLS). None of the supplied NH90 helicopters meet the contractual configuration, and the military hopes to reach it only in 2021. When the first Airbus 400M was accepted, 875 defects were found.
The reasons for the rise in the cost of products are known: the understatement of the cost of the order by the contractor at the stage of concluding the contract, as well as financial coverage of commercial risks by the customer. Thus, at the stage of concluding the contract, both parties deliberately, in order to obtain financing, underestimate the cost of the order. The penalties for late delivery are not large enough to increase the executive discipline of the contractor. The report lists 140 problems and risks and proposes 180 measures, the implementation of which, according to the auditors, will fundamentally improve the state of affairs in two years.
One of the proposed measures - toughening of the requirements for the contractor by the Ministry of Defense - has already been applied in practice: the Ministry of Defense suspended the acceptance of Typhoon fighters pending the settlement of the financial aspects of the order. The aircraft manufacturer, Eurofighter (BAE Systems), has admitted that the number of flight hours of fighters is being cut in half due to skin defects. The ministry apparently expects that it will thereby be able to reduce the cost of one fighter, which, according to press reports, is currently 134 million euros.
While large orders were being checked, the Ministry of Defense set its sights on an audit of the G36 assault rifles, which have been in service since 1997. The expert commission for checking them began work in the summer of 2014. At the end of March 2015, without waiting for the announcement of the results of the check, Leyen announced that that due to problems with the accuracy of shooting at high temperatures, the use of the rifle in peacekeeping missions will be limited, and in the future the Bundeswehr will completely abandon them. In response to the damaging allegations, the manufacturer Heckler & Koch threatened to contact the Federal Criminal Police Office to verify the findings of the expert committee.
This dispute testifies to the emerging contradictions between the German military department and the defense industry. Industrialists were also dissatisfied with the proposal of audit companies to refuse German suppliers. Moreover, it was proposed to purchase weapons of those types that Germany actively exports: submarines, small arms, armored vehicles. Leyen is a supporter of the specialization of the German defense industry. In her view, it is worth buying from their own manufacturers, first of all, encryption equipment and reconnaissance means. The idea of abandoning the products of German industry is rejected by the Minister of Economy Sigmar Gabriel. At the same time, it is the Social Democrat Gabriel who advocates stricter rules for the export of arms, which is not in the interests of the national defense industry. According to the latest SIPRI report, Germany has already lost its position to China, being in 2014 in fourth place in terms of arms exports. Security experts from the CDU are calling for the supply of German weapons, including tanks, to the Baltic countries.
Even before the start of the audit campaigns, at the beginning of her tenure as minister, Ursula von der Leyen replaced the officials in charge of defense orders. On December 18, 2013, Rüdiger Wolf, Secretary of State for Armaments and Budget, who had held this position since 2008, was dismissed. Since January 1, 2014, the head of the Armaments Department of the Ministry of Defense, the head of the Information Technology Project, Detlef Selhausen, was dismissed. In February 2014, Secretary of State Stefan Beelesman lost his post and was accused of concealing from the Bundestag the fact of transferring 55 million euros to pay for the supply of fighters. Beelesman was also implicated in the 2013 drone scandal, but then de Mezières did not fire him.
After these high-profile dismissals, the minister assigned full responsibility for arming the Bundeswehr to the inspector general (a post corresponding to the chief of the General Staff). In July 2014, Leyen appointed Katrin Suder as Secretary of State in charge of defense orders. The new secretary of state intends to achieve compliance of supplies with contracts in terms of terms and prices. The scale of the work to be done can be judged by the total number of contracts signed: in 2013 alone, 7,700 were signed. Under the leadership of Suder, the Armament 4.0 program was developed in a short time, including six areas. The principle of transparency, focus on key technologies, the choice of priorities and the development of cooperation with partners in other countries are proclaimed. Obviously, due to the fact that the most difficult situation has developed with aviation, two separate directions have been identified: "airplanes" and "helicopters". In connection with the emergence of new threats, a separate project "Security Technologies of the Future" was adopted, which is personally led by Katrin Suder, a physicist by training. It is planned to develop the concept "Bundeswehr 2040 - a response to new challenges." Increased transparency will translate into better awareness among members of the Bundestag - in December 2014, Suder already took part in a meeting of the parliamentary defense committee. Information about the meeting was not disclosed, it is only known that the Secretary of State called on the parliamentarians to be patient, and the co-rapporteurs (inspectors of the Land Forces Lieutenant General Bruno Kasdorf, Air Force - Karl Müller and the Navy - Vice Admiral Andreas Krause) confirmed this initial thesis, citing readiness data certain types of equipment. The work of the minister and his team is vigorously supported by Christian Democrats.
The press expresses skepticism about the very ambitious plans of the new secretary of state, because, on the one hand, the defense order belongs to the category of "eternal problems", and on the other, similar difficulties exist in other countries. In addition, attempts to invite civilian specialists (in this case, Suder) to solve them have been made in Germany before, but have not been successful.
TECHNICAL EQUIPMENT OF THE ARMY
One of the signs of 2014 was the close attention of politicians and the media to the issues of technical equipment of the Bundeswehr. The above-mentioned report of the audit companies on the state of defense orders leads to the conclusion about the accumulated significant problems with weapons. This conclusion was confirmed by hearings in the parliamentary defense committee, which are now held twice a year. Although the reports are not open, nevertheless, the media published fragmentary data obtained through their channels about faulty military equipment. It was reported, for example, that of the 180 state-of-the-art Boxer armored personnel carriers, 110 are operational, of 89 Tornado fighters - 38, of 83 CH-53 transport helicopters - 16 (according to other sources, seven at all), of 56 Transall transport aircraft - 24 and etc.
Cases of technical malfunctions, especially emergencies related to the international image of the Bundeswehr, were also widely reported. So, due to a malfunction of the C-160 Transall cargo plane, the solemn ceremony of handing military cargoes to the Kurds in Erbil, where Leyen arrived specifically for this purpose, failed. In Afghanistan, the military transport Airbus 310 did not take on board the military who were waiting to be sent home, for which they had to send a plane from the government fleet. Not on the first attempt was it possible to deliver a cargo of medicines to Liberia - a dedicated plane made an emergency landing in the Canary Islands. Finally, the Bundeswehr refused to participate in the NATO exercise due to the malfunction of eight of the nine helicopters of the KSK special forces unit. All the examples given relate to aviation, which, according to the assurances of Air Force inspector Lieutenant General Karl Müllner, is working to the limit.
In December 2014, the first Leopard 2A7 tanks entered service with the Bundeswehr.
It seems to us that such information cannot serve as a sufficient basis to conclude that the Bundeswehr as a whole is low in technical combat readiness. The criteria for assessing the degree of combat readiness in these messages are not clear. Most likely, equipment that does not fully satisfy them, if necessary, can be involved in the performance of combat missions and will successfully cope with them. In addition, those units of equipment that are not fully equipped or have not reached the planned level of capabilities are sometimes referred to as non-combatant. In addition, not all press reports are reliable: in particular, it was mentioned that two of the four submarines that the Kriegsmarine had at that time were out of order, but the minister in one of her speeches mentioned that two submarines were laid up due to the fact that their crews are understaffed.
Obviously, there is good reason to trust not the press, but the head of the press service of the Ministry of Defense, Jens Flosdorf, who says that "in a normal case, the Bundeswehr is well armed." We add that rumors about the low combat effectiveness of the Bundeswehr are a way of putting pressure on public opinion in Germany itself - overly pacifist if we compare it with the confrontational attitude of the NATO leadership and individual members of the alliance, and above all Poland. In this row, in our opinion, is Leyen's statement, circulated in the press, that the Bundeswehr is not able to fully fulfill its obligations within the framework of the alliance. Obviously, this statement is deliberately generalizing, while in reality it was about the state of the Air Force. Specifically, this meant the message that in an emergency, the Bundeswehr could not provide 60 Eurofighter fighters, as prescribed in the section on the NATO Defense Planning process for 2014 the state of the arms of the Bundeswehr. In an interview, she said that thanks to this campaign, the general public was convinced of the need to increase the defense budget. It remains to be assumed that the "leaks" of data from secret reports were deliberately organized. Opinion polls show that the population was susceptible to this campaign - already half of Germans believe that the defense budget should be increased. Member of the Parliamentary Defense Committee Hennig Otte (CDU) at a recent expert meeting mentioned that 58 billion euros are planned to be spent on rearmament.
According to the available fragmentary information, even with a low level of budgetary funding, the weapons of the Bundeswehr are constantly being modernized. Here are specific examples:
• Weapon. There has been progress in solving the problem with the G36 rifle, which is the main rifle for the Bundeswehr. In 2012, the drawbacks revealed when using the G36 in Afghanistan, in particular, barrel overheating, were actively discussed. In mid-2014, the Ministry of Defense initiated a quality control of the rifle, at the same time, according to the media, refusing to further purchase this model.“We need to prevent the ministry from investing another 34 million euros in weapons that probably do not meet the needs of the Armed Forces,” an anonymous informed source quoted the press. As a result, in October 2014, a contract was signed (albeit without final approval) for the supply of new G38 (HK416) rifles developed by the same company Henckler & Koch. The Henckler & Koch P9A1 pistol was adopted by the naval special forces (Kommando Spezialkräfte Marine).
• Armored vehicles. In December 2014, the first Leopard tank, upgraded to version 2A7 (produced by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann), entered service with the 203rd tank battalion of the 21st tank brigade. While 20 vehicles of this modification have been ordered, in the future the Bundeswehr command intends to find funds to upgrade all Leopard 2A6 MBTs to version 2A7, of which, according to various sources, there are from 200 to 322 in the Armed Forces.
• Aviation. Despite the problems with NH90, in March 2015 the budget committee of the Bundestag approved the conclusion of a framework agreement with the supplier of helicopters Airbus Helicopters for 8.5 billion euros for the supply of the next batch of these helicopters. As a result, the Bundeswehr is expected to receive another 80 NH90 transport helicopters, as well as 57 Tiger combat helicopters (the original order, made before the reform, was concluded for 122 and 80 units, respectively). It is agreed that 22 NH90s will be used by multinational forces and based in Germany. The allocation of 1.4 billion euros for the purchase of 18 Sea Lion helicopters (the German designation for the naval version NH90) was also approved. In the medium term, the existing Sea Lynx will be replaced by the NH90 Sea Lion. In November 2014, the first copy of the Airbus Helicopters EC645 T2 light multipurpose helicopter, designed primarily for participation in special forces operations, was successfully tested. The contract for the supply of 15 vehicles of this type, worth 194 million euros, was signed in July 2011 and must be completed by the end of 2015. Deliveries are made without delay.
The start of deliveries of BMP Puma is nine years late.
Particular attention is drawn to the prospect of the release of drones. In 2013, the Euro Hawk project was stopped when it became clear that the costs were twice as high as anticipated for the project. In addition, there was a public debate about whether Germany's use of armed UAVs designed to strike ground targets was ethical. Unlike Mezieres, Leyen is definitely in favor of the production of armed drones. According to press reports, the Triton project that replaced the Euro Hawk is classified, which gives rise to doubts about the readiness of the military department to ensure the transparency of its work. There is official confirmation that as of the end of 2014, a program adopted in 2012 was in force, which implies equipping the Bundeswehr by 2025 with 16 unmanned aerial vehicles (with and without weapons). For the contingent stationed in Afghanistan, the lease of Israeli Heron UAVs has been extended for another year, until April 2016. In early April 2015, it was reported that Germany, France and Italy had reached an agreement on the joint production of a new generation of drones, which will begin to enter service in 2020 (at least no later than 2025). This project testifies to efforts to intensify cooperation in the defense sphere, and mainly with European partners.
In connection with the growing confrontation between NATO and Russia, the issue of incomplete manning of military units with tanks and heavy equipment has become urgent. Currently, the equipment level is 70-75%. To remedy the situation, the Minister of Defense ordered to suspend the decommissioning of obsolete modifications of the Leopard 2 tank and to buy back 100 previously decommissioned tanks, spending 22 million euros on this. According to the plan approved in 2011, the number of tanks in service was to be 225 units; according to new plans - 328 (while in 1990 the armed forces of the FRG consisted of 2, 1 thousand MBT).
From the point of view of improving technology, it seems important that the Bundeswehr takes part in peacekeeping missions. In 2014The Bundestag issued a mandate to extend all foreign missions and to join two new ones. It was the experience gained during these operations that put on the agenda the issue of the quality of the G36 rifle. In Afghanistan, it turned out that Boxer armored personnel carriers should be additionally equipped to be suitable for supporting infantry units. German-made Tiger helicopters turned out to be worse than French ones, etc.
CONCLUSIONS
In the face of confrontation on the European continent, Germany pays close attention to increasing the combat capability of the army. The adopted concept of increasing the attractiveness of military service includes both improving the social conditions of servicemen and advertising measures. In 2014, more than 10 thousand volunteers were recruited, from which we can conclude that the younger generation has freed itself from the feeling of guilt for the crimes committed by the Germans during the Second World War, and the ideas of pacifism are losing their former popularity. The question of returning to the call has not yet been raised, but the call has not been legally canceled, but only suspended.
Over the past year, under the slogan of increasing transparency, some data on the state of the Bundeswehr's combat readiness have appeared in the media, which were previously not subject to public coverage. This information is fragmentary and gives the impression of the low combat effectiveness of the German Armed Forces. This impression seems to us inconsistent with reality and capable of leading to unjustified illusions. The army is systematically updating and modernizing the fleet of weapons and military equipment, and the personnel, participating in foreign missions, accumulate combat experience. The quality of new equipment is also checked there. At the political level, efforts are being made to strengthen interaction between the defense industry in Germany and other EU countries, primarily France.
