The realignment of NATO poses major challenges for the Bundeswehr.

According to Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD), the Bundeswehr should have a division with 15,000 soldiers ready to defend the alliance, significantly more than before.

In fact, the total number of soldiers who should be available at short notice to defend the eastern flank in the future is likely to be significantly larger.

This can be deduced from the crews and support forces for the 65 aircraft and 20 naval units that Germany will provide in the future alongside a division with two combat brigades.

In the case of both the airborne and the maritime component, thousands more soldiers are likely to be involved.

Lorenz Hemicker

Editor in Politics

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The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces, Eva Högl (SPD), spoke of “great efforts” that were required.

They affect "staff, equipment and infrastructure," Högl told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper.

The background to their statements are obviously the problems that the Bundeswehr has had in equipping its combat units.

For the NATO rapid intervention brigade, which the Bundeswehr will provide in the coming year, the association had to borrow material from the entire Bundeswehr.

Högl stated in its annual report in March that the supply of combat material was “insufficient throughout the army”.

With the help of the special fund, the deficiencies are now to be remedied quickly and the growth in skills accelerated.

Inspector General Eberhard Zorn announced in March that

The CDU party leader Friedrich Merz called for more money for the Bundeswehr on Wednesday.

This is the only way to meet the requirements, Merz told the television channels RTL and ntv.

The chairwoman of the defense committee in the Bundestag, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP), indirectly contradicted Merz.

She is not worried about the money, she told the FAZ "We will also have to adjust our budget after 2025." No one intends to "check the box" on the investments for the Bundeswehr after the adoption of the hundred billion euro special fund.

There was a consensus that the armed forces would have to receive more money on a permanent basis.

The latest budget draft by Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) envisages a defense budget of 58 billion euros for 2023.

This corresponds to 1

6 percent of gross domestic product.

The budget is thus further below the NATO target of two percent.

However, this does not include any funds drawn from the special fund.

Strack-Zimmermann also said that more important than the question of financing was the organization of what was needed to immediately hire the Bundeswehr for its more extensive tasks in the defense of the alliance.

"That is now the task of the Ministry of Defence," said Strack-Zimmermann.

"Tough situations require quick decisions." It will not fail because of the soldiers.

But it is important to take the public with you and explain what needs to be done.

At the beginning of the week, the Navy had signaled its willingness to assume a leading role in the defense of the alliance in the Baltic Sea.

It was offered to set up a regional headquarters for the Baltic Sea, said the inspector of the armed forces, Vice Admiral Jan Christian Kaack, in a keynote speech on the occasion of his first hundred days in office on the island of Rügen.

The Russian Navy will emerge from the war largely unscathed, and it is important to prepare for this.