Der Spiegelin artikkeli Saksan armeijan tilasta. Näin Suomalaisen näkövinkkelistä se on jotakin täysin käsittämätöntä, aivan katastrofaalista. Tästä lähdetään. Onhan se pieni armeija Saksan kokoiselle maalle, mutta kyllä noilla jotakin vielä tekee, ainakin Ukrainaan riittää hyvin tavaraa, kun Saksan rajanaapurit eivät ole vihamielisiä ja omaa asetuotantoa on. Vai mitä?
Valitettavasti todellisuus näyttää hieman toiselta.
One example: The commander of the 10th Tank Division reported to his superiors that during an exercise with 18 Puma infantry fighting vehicles, all 18 of them broke down.
There is a lack of munitions and equipment – and arms deliveries to Ukraine have only worsened the situation. “The cupboards are almost bare,” said Alfons Mais, inspector general of the German army
Analogiset radiot?
In other words, Germany’s military continues to be reliant on analog radios, communications that can be easily intercepted, for one. For another, they are incompatible with the modern devices used by soldiers from the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Norway, all of whom are part of the unit Germany leads.
Because important IT projects, such as mobile computing centers and IT units, have run into delays, the report notes, the military’s leadership ability can only be guaranteed by falling back on “old systems.”
Wait for it… wait for it… Punchline!
Of the various helicopter models belonging to the navy, just 30 percent at most were available in mid-November, as were a third of the military’s ancient Tornado fighter jets and just over half of its Marder infantry fighting vehicles. Only half of the CH-53 heavy transport helicopters, also ancient, are operational. Just a shade more than half of the Bundeswehr’s Panzerhaubitze 2000 self-propelled guns are available, two thirds of its frigates and half of its submarines.
Onneksi Saksalla on sentään 300 Leopardia, kansallinen ylpeys, omaa tuotantoa priimakunnossa… eikös?
For example, the books show that the Bundeswehr possesses more than 300 Leopard 2 battle tanks. Around two-thirds of them are “available,” but of that number, just 60 percent – around 130 – are operational.
Eikä tässä vielä kaikki!
Divisions, brigades and battalions remained in existence on paper, but they were equipped with only a fraction of the necessary materiel, which in turn became increasingly obsolete due to budgetary constraints. The units that were scheduled for deployment had to scrounge up equipment from the entire Bundeswehr. “Width before depth” was the new motto, and the shuffling back and forth of the few tanks and howitzers was celebrated as “dynamic availability management.”
Onneksi armeijassa sentään tiedetään kuka komentaa. Selvä hierarkia, jossa käskyt johdetaan ylhäältä alas. Mikä voisi mennä vikaan?
De Maizière abolished both staffs. Since then, the Defense Ministry has effectively been incapable of leadership. Germany is likely the only country in the world with a military that isn’t led by a general staff or a comparable military body. Should a crisis arise, officials would first have to call around to determine who was going to take charge.
Onneksi ei ole mitään sellaista, mitä byrokratia ei voisi ratkaista. Saksassa tämä tiedetään!
This permanent power struggle has paralyzed the ministry. Because the individual areas are blocking each other, new special staffs are constantly being created at the periphery. They are supposed to solve what the apparatus is no longer capable of doing. In reality, though, they merely serve to exacerbate the ministry’s dysfunctionality, which increases with each new parallel body. The ministry long ago stretched beyond its target size of 2,500 employees. Well over 3,000 people now work in the bloated ministry.
Tämän tulos on juuri sellainen kuin voisi odottaa.
Among de Maizière’s legacies are the Bundeswehr’s three monster agencies: one for personnel, one for procurement and one for infrastructure, environmental protection and services. Taken together, many thousands of civil servants and soldiers there are busy harassing the troops with a tightly meshed network of absurd regulations.
Ketä voimme tästä kaikesta syyttää?
The search for the politicians responsible for today’s mess quickly leads to two Lambrecht’s predecessors, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg and Thomas de Maizière of the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) respectively. Why? The reforms pursued by the two former defense ministers, both of whom were installed by Chancellor Angela Merkel during her long tenure at the top, broke the back of the Bundeswehr.
Em. artikkeli on pitkä ja kannattaa lukea ajatuksella kahvikupin kanssa. Jos ei aika riitä, Minna Ålander on kirjoittanut hyvän twiittiketjun aiheesta ja nostaa keskeisiä asioita esille. Osittain samoja kuin yllä.
Jos joku haluaisi valloittaa Saksan yllätyshyökkäyksellä, voisi Oulun poliisivoimat olla sopivan kokoinen kokoonpano. Saksan armeija kun alkaisi täyttää “saapuva invaasio” -lomakkeita, etsiä komentajaa ja lupaa puolustautua siinä vaiheessa, kun komisariot marssivat Berliiniin…