German Armed Forces Association calls for massive increase in troop numbers

BERLIN

Germany needs to increase its troop size by as much as 45% to meet NATO requirements and address the threat from Russia, the chairman of the German Armed Forces Association said Friday.

Col. Andre Wuestner said the number of soldiers must eventually expand from 180,000 to 260,000 to meet NATO requirements and counter the Russian threat.

“The Bundeswehr (German army) must definitely be larger than the 203,300 soldiers originally set as the target for 2025 before the pandemic,” he told the RND editorial network.

“The future target size depends on the design of NATO capability goals and the burden-bearing capacity of Germany. But I assume that, depending on what is decided at the NATO summit, we will need between 40,000 and 60,000 additional soldiers,” added Wuestner, whose association represents the interests of German troops.

He said the active force would “have to grow gradually to up to 260,000 soldiers. At the same time, a capable reserve must be developed from this to reach the target size of 460,000 soldiers.”

The call for expanded troop numbers comes as NATO faces a pivotal summit next month, where alliance members are expected to reassess defense postures in light of the ongoing war in Ukraine.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has prioritized modernizing Germany's armed forces since taking office earlier this month.

In March, Germany eased a so-called “debt brake” – a fiscal rule that restricts government borrowing – to fund a defense spending hike.

Last year, Germany’s defense spending reached 2.12% of GDP, up from 1.19% in 2014, meeting NATO’s 2% threshold for annual defense spending.

Meeting the proposed 5% of GDP spend would require allocating approximately €225 billion ($250 billion) to defense.

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