There are many construction sites in the Bundeswehr - one of the biggest is the planned increase to over 200,000 soldiers. Defense Minister Lambrecht's new reform plan presents concrete proposals for a solution, according to a media report.
According to a report, Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht of the SPD has completed her plan for reforming the Bundeswehr. The 63-page paper was sent to the staff council and other participation bodies in the Federal Ministry of Defense and should be presented to the Bundestag next week, reported the "Welt". According to her own statements, the report is available.
The report, which is classified as classified information, names around 200 measures with which Lambrecht wants to "increase the operational readiness and functionality of the Bundeswehr in the short, medium and long term". The majority of these are test orders, options and suggestions, but not finished concepts.
The report is only the "start of changes," according to "Welt" in the paper. The need for reform is "fundamental, diverse and enormous", and the package of measures presented "is not sufficient to break out of the encrustations of decades". There are "many individual adjustment screws that can and will be adjusted".
According to the newspaper, the measures relate in particular to the areas of personnel, material and functionality. The target number of 203,300 soldiers in 2031 is being called into question. Although this target is "currently at the decision stage", it requires an additional increase of the same magnitude in addition to the annual regeneration of around 20,000 soldiers. That is "ambitious" and cannot be achieved without "profound measures".
According to the newspaper report, "sustainable diversity management" is proposed as a concrete measure to break these trends in order to attract underrepresented social groups such as women and Germans with a migration background to the Bundeswehr. Contract periods for regular soldiers should be extended, soldiers withdrawn from civilian posts, and more and other recruiting methods attempted. The lowering of quality requirements is also not excluded.
According to "Welt", the paper only says that the known equipment gaps should be closed, and "no new analysis is required here. Within the existing organization, the identified need for action must be implemented consistently." Currently, however, there is not even a reliable picture of the situation of the existing weapon systems "in order to be able to control the growth to full material equipment in a targeted manner".
