Canadian reacts to The German Military will become Europe's most powerful

[@morbvsclz]

Non operational is an unreliable statistic though, as German stanards are super strict and very bureaucratic. Let's say a tank has a required official maintenance check of once every 6 months. 6 months + 1 day after the last one, it is considered inoperable despite likely being totally fine. Stuff that would make equipment not ready for use on public roads (like a broken taillight) would mean the same. The main problem I think is that so much money goes into admin and everything goes through career bureaucrats in the Ministry. That's what raises costs and slows everything down. And after elections, the Ministers change, programs get re-evaluated, they might opt-out or change agreed upon development goals, triggering contractual penalties and extra research and development etc.

[@SlimNesbitt-p6s]

Just as an example of how bureaucracy paralyzes tanks. In December 2022, a cable fire in a Puma infantry fighting vehicle was extinguished with a fire extinguisher. So far, so good. After that, however, the Puma was completely incapable of fighting because the powder from the fire extinguisher paralyzed the tank's technology. The Ministry of Defense then promised the Bundestag that it would examine alternatives. In April 2023, an inquiry from a member of the Bundestag revealed that the tank still had the unsuitable fire extinguisher. Minister Pistorius then promised on ZDF that the error would be corrected. 7 months later, the member of the Bundestag asked again. The Ministry of Defense then declared the process secret. The army could not understand the secrecy and explained that the powder fire extinguishers were still installed. Fire extinguishers containing halon are banned by the EU for environmental reasons. However, the Air Force uses halon fire extinguishers in the Airbus A400 with a special permit. Does something so ridiculous actually exist in your country?

[@tosa2522]

I just read that the soldiers are to receive more comfortable dress uniforms for over 800 million euros. The CDU candidate for chancellor said that he wants to invest an additional 300 billion euros in the military. I think we have enough problems that need to be tackled with the 600 billion euros lacking in investment in infrastructure such as railways, bridges, schools and digitalization.

[@SlimNesbitt-p6s]

Defense spending in Germany in 2024 will be around $55 billion in the defense budget. Added to this is the annual share of special funds of around $21 billion. These $76 billion will be spent on the Bundeswehr. Almost $98 billion in defense-related spending was reported to NATO. The difference is due to aid for Ukraine and other classified spending from other budgets. The top 7 in NATO according to official figures: Country Military spending Share of GDP United States $967,707 3.38% Germany $97,686 2.12% United Kingdom $82,107 2.33% France $64,271 2.06% Poland $34,975 4.12% Italy $34,462 1.49% Canada $30,495 1.37%

[@Doc_Rainbow]

The tanks arent really broken... but in germany the stuff gets labeld as unoperatable when a mirror for example is broken... so these numbers are not really saying anything...

[@praefectusvigilum6997]

I am a reserve soldier of the german army, as a branch of the federal defense ( Bundeswehr ). I do love my county and our military.But i do not agree. I don't think so. I wish it could be true, but i don't think, that we could become so powerful. The german society and our rulers do not like the military. It dosn't matter to them at all. Not really.

[@nestrix5832]

Nowadays it is changing

[@amartinjoe]

No; the Ukrainian army will become the most powerful in Europe after this war - battle-tested and battle-hardened and equipped with top-of the line NATO equipment. The last time a German soldier fought in a major war was in 1945.