BERLIN
Germany is having a hard time increasing its defense procurements despite a special €100 billion ($107.2 billion) fund to bring the country's weapons and equipment back up to standard following decades of attrition since the end of the Cold War, according to experts.
It was only three days after Russia's Feb. 24 attack on Ukraine when German Chancellor Olaf Scholz addressed the nation's parliament to announce unprecedented plans for the largest-ever investment to upgrade the country's military apparatus.
"It is clear that we must invest significantly more in the security of our country to protect our freedom and our democracy in this way," said Scholz of the €100 billion special fund.
"It's a major national effort. The goal is an efficient, progressive, state-of-the-art Bundeswehr (German military) that protects us reliably," he added.
While everyone was waiting for German and other international arms companies to immediately vie for a chunk of the money, nothing really happened.
Procurement process complicated
The procurement process is a complicated one, and the decisions for certain weapon systems follow strategic and also industrial policy criteria, according to Christian Molling of the Berlin-based German Council on Foreign Relations.
The decisions for new weapon systems are often lengthy and erratic, he told the Deutschlandfunk broadcaster.
Molling cited Defense Ministry plans to replace the country's aging Tornado fighter jets as an example of these bureaucratic problems.
"There has been a long process as to which aircraft or which aircraft mix we want to use as a successor to the Tornado. There was a process that dragged on for years, where a decision was simply not made for political reasons and not for military reasons," he said.
"And overnight, the chancellor decided that he now wants to buy a certain American aircraft, and so it's a political decision and not a market decision," he added.
Molling's assessment was partially shared by Lt. Col. Andre Wustner, chairman of the German Armed Forces Association.
"The ministry is still in the analysis phase. We have dysfunctional structures and processes. We have enormous problems recruiting young people, and yes, we also have over-regulation," Wustner told the WELT television network.
That notwithstanding, procurement has only just begun as Germany has signed a €10 billion deal to buy 35 American-made F-35 fighter jets to replace its aging fleet of Tornados. However, it will take until 2027 before they are ready for deployment.
Problems with shortage of military equipment persist
On the other hand, there are still problems when it comes to a shortage of military equipment and materials.
"At the moment, we are still in freefall. We are still doing good things with a view to NATO's eastern flank, the missions we are currently having: Mali, Iraq, etc." Wustner said.
"But as far as the Bundeswehr is concerned, we are still there. We are giving away equipment – for example, (to) Ukraine. We're not filling up yet. The €100 billion is not yet in contracts. That's the reality," he added.
The current annual report of the military commissioner of the German parliament, Eva Hogl, lists a so-called average clearance, the actual available stock of weapons and equipment.
Operational readiness stands at an average of 68%, for example for the Marder infantry fighting vehicle, the Tornado fighter jet, and the Sea King multi-purpose helicopter.
A German military leader underscored the shortage problems with which the army is grappling.
"The army that I am allowed to lead is more or less empty-handed. The options that we can offer politicians to support the (NATO) alliance are extremely limited," Lt. Gen. Alfons Mais, an army inspector, said in an interview with the Tagesspiegel newspaper.
There are plenty of problems in the German military ranging from stories about tanks and helicopters that needed repairing, malfunctioning guns and rifles to soldiers having to train in the cold without thermal underwear.
The latest news about ammunition shortages was revealed partly because questions emerged about maintaining supplies for the weapons being sent to Ukraine in its war with Russia.
The German parliament is increasing the pressure on the government to quickly resolve the lack of ammunition in the Bundeswehr.
According to estimates from the Defense Ministry, ammunition would have to be purchased for €20 billion to meet NATO requirements.
The western military pact requires their troops to have ammunition worth 30 days in stock. The Bundeswehr, however, would run out of ammunition after just a couple of days.
Eva Hogl, the Bundestag commissioner for the German Armed Forces, told the Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, "We need a timetable that eliminates these deficits."
The lack of ammunition in the Bundeswehr is a result of years of austerity policies in the troops and the fact that national and alliance defense was not the top priority, according to Hogl.
Her remarks were underscored by Berlin-based political analyst Ewald Konig who pointed out that the root causes of Germany's military problems go back to the way it has been dealt with for the past 30 years.
"We are now paying the price for how the German Bundeswehr has been treated in the past. Since reunification, the country's military has only faced cost-cutting measures," Konig told Anadolu Agency.
"Much of the military equipment is not operational. There is a lack of ammunition. And there is a lack of motivation by the soldiers," he added.
Defense industry aims to expand production capacities
Germany's defense industry has repeatedly expressed its readiness to ramp up its weapon production.
"All the companies I know have said that they are able to scale up their corresponding capacities. Everyone has said that they are also willing to hire new people, to work more shifts," said Hans-Christian Atzpodien, managing director of the Association of German Security and Defense Industries.
Rising energy prices, stagnant supply chains, material bottlenecks, and skilled worker shortages are only part of the problems with which the armament industry is struggling.
"On the one hand there are clearly problems with the supply of raw materials and certain preliminary products, especially in the electronics sector," Atzpodien said.
"In this respect, we are no different from other sectors such as automobiles, etc. On the other hand, we also compete with others on the labor market for skilled workers," the arms lobbyist added.
Government lacking strategic security vision
Experts lament the fact that the German government is lacking a clear and long-term strategic security vision.
Julia Berghofer from European Leadership Network, a London-based think tank, stressed that she missed a clear concept, a security policy strategy that provides answers to the new threat situation.
"It's not obvious to me at the moment. It may be there, but as someone who doesn't work in a ministry and is not in the Bundeswehr, I wonder where this strategic vision is," Berghofer told the Deutschlandfunk broadcasting station.
"We have an actual situation now, we have an acute threat and we have a concrete scenario in Ukraine, and we can consider certain other scenarios of how the situation with Russia might or might not escalate," she added.
Berghofer also urged a clear roadmap to how the urgent problems of procurement policy should be solved.
