German Rearmament: Is it going wrong?

[@sae1095hc]

"Are we ready to go to war today?" That's the question that every military should ask itself every day.

[@TurboHappyCar]

But but... wars are a thing of the past! A war in Europe would be unthinkable in the 2022.

[@creatoruser736]

What kind of war? Ukraine was fighting a relatively low-level war for years, then very quickly found itself fighting off an invasion. There's a difference between what you prepare to do what you end up actually having to do.

[@JohnSmith-gd2fg]

@@creatoruser736 That would be the next question. I feel that politicians like to focus on headline items, how many tanks, how many fighters, and ignore the difficult question of, what are those tanks and fighters (and all the rest) doing at (say) day 7 of the kind of conflict they were bought to engage in, let alone Month 10+ like Ukraine has now reached. Pretty sure my native Australia would be in serious trouble by the end of the first week if they faced a peer-level adversary, let alone China.

[@aaronwilkinson8963]

The only people in Europe are the polish

[@CallsignEskimo-l3o]

You go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time - Donald Rumsfeld

[@andreasarnoalthofsobottka2928]

Let me tell you a story from December 1989. I was a conscript in 2./FlaRgt 12. For basic training we spent a week at Wolferstaetten traing ground in our tents at -14°C. Buy the end of the week 3 of my 5 comrades got sick or hurt. They returned to the barracks but left us the dummy rounds. So I had 30 for the MG and the other two 15 each for the rifles. That was the amount common for a training week for the support troups. During the last night we launched an attack against a Platoon of Sanis nearby. Our Searge fired Illumination rounds and the poor Sanis crawled out of their tents. Much shouting, much confusion, much running around, but only a few shots were fired in return. One of the Sanis literally ran into me. I politely asked him why they didn't return fire, and he answered (almost crying) that he already used up the three dummy rounds each was given earlier that week. To discribe the status or purpose of the Bundeswehr respectively we used to say: we distract the enemy until real Soldiers arrive. They did some weeks later; ReForGer 90.

[@TesterAnimal1]

I wonder if the reluctance to arm properly is a psychological response to the erm… unfortunate happenings in the 1940s?

[@andreasarnoalthofsobottka2928]

@@TesterAnimal1 Quite! But there are many additional reasons. During the 90'ies Germany had to pay 2.5 Trillion for the reunification, so every penny had to be spared elsewhere. Germany is surrounded by allies. So Equipment and capabilities were shifted to build schools for girls, keep an eye on pirates in wooden speed boats and refugees in rubber dingis. For 20 years German policy with russia was like: they need our money more than we need their energy. Former chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, even used to call Vladimolf putler his friend. Germany houses the largest russian community outside the former USSR. On both political extremes there are Putin - Versteher who still believe in russian Propaganda. (Wagenknecht, Crupalla) All these form a loud and powerfull minority, which cannot be completely ignored nevertheless.

[@davidpnewton]

@@TesterAnimal1 yes in part. It's also because there are a lot of Russian agents and assets in the German government who are gumming up the works. Beyond the Russian agents and assets there are also enormous numbers of unreformed Ossies who are simply stupid and hold very blinkered, parochial views about Germany's place in the world. It's much the same sort of group who want to close down all German nuclear power stations and thereby increase German dependence on Russian gas.

[@jamesbarca7229]

I was a US Army combat engineer in the same time period. There were times we had the opposite problem. There were range days where we had literally all of the ammo we could shoot. I remember running around with an M60 with belts hanging all over me just blasting away because everyone else had gotten bored, and we had a bunch of ammo to use up. Another time, at the end of a field exercise, my squad was sent out to the demo range to finish off any explosives that were left, since they weren't to be turned back in. I figured it was the explosives issued to the battalion, but it must have been the whole brigade because there was a bunker filled with C4, TNT, cratering charges, shape charges, Bangalore torpedoes, rolls of det cord...you name it, it was in there. We were out there most of the day, and we still had a bunch left. Finally, we broke all the rules, piled everything that was left together (which was faaar more than we were supposed to set off at one time), primed the living sh!t out of it to make sure it all went off and set it all off at once. When we felt the ground shake, we knew we had gone too far. The amount of debris that rained down on us was unbelievable, we were lucky that none of us were injured. We jumped in our deuce and a halfs, high-tailed it out of there, and caught up to our company convoy just as they were rolling out of the main gate. We were sweating it for a while, especially after some of the stories we heard of broken windows and more (which I won't get into), but we never heard anything. Sorry for the long story, just brought back some memories.

[@user-pq4by2rq9y]

@@TesterAnimal1 I think the real issue is their elite's "moral" high ground that reality hasn't been kind to.

[@ZoneTroper7]

If you want to know how dire the equipment situation is for the Bundeswehr troops, you should just look at how many of them use non issued gear.

[@brettbaker5599]

TBF, US troops use a lot of non-standard gear. Some of it even gets adopted as standard.

[@texasranger24]

@@brettbaker5599 but US troops buy fancy shit, and manufacturers love to give samples to the Navy Seals just for the bragging rights, and a lot of them develop cutting edge gear according to the needs of the warfighter. In Germany you are better off buying airsoft gear online than running the issued plate carrier, because it will get you killed.

[@rainyvideos3684]

@@brettbaker5599 Yeah but that's comparing a military that gives out everything standard that the soldiers might need and whose soldiers still have the option to use non-standard gear TO a military that whose soldiers NEED TO USE non-standard gear because it's not given to them. Those are not the same things.

[@COLT6940]

@@brettbaker5599 Because US troops don't like their milspec gears and go out of their way to buy better equipments but can't say the same for german troops.

[@timurlane4004]

@@brettbaker5599 Thats because US troops can do it if they want. While German troops have to get their own stuff

[@matthewtaylor3301]

Newly former U.S Marine here. Our problem was that we had too much ammo, haha. Seriously, we'd spend the end of most training days trying to burn it off so we didn't have to check it back in.

[@djzrobzombie2813]

The us navy seals throw the ammo just into the ocean front ships a navy seal said named Mike ritland

[@kalgstol]

Lol I packed that shit away and took it home

[@williamlloyd3769]

Excellent video! My destroyer use to dock at Seal Beach weapons station and pull old 1950-60s era 5-inch / 38-caliber rounds to verify that older ammunition lots were still viable. The crew recorded the results from firing various rounds at the San Clemente island live fire range. So it’s not only a matter of buying ammunition, you have to properly store it and test lots to verify that it remains viable.

[@andersnilsson7917]

Sweden is in a similar situation. Manpower, equipment, regiments, you name it, is in short supply. This is a result of the attitudes from the last two decades where it has been cool to remark (like our previous prime minister did in 2015) that the military is just one special interest among many. I think you are correct in that all European nations have to focus on a long term vision where government and private industry create a common understanding and there is a guarantee for long term profitability.

[@Zzrik]

You would think with the history between Sweden and Russia that they should have seen this coming, i mean they did have a soviet sub get stranded in Sweden and didn't take that as warning, the Soviet union shot down a Swedish plane and nothing, Soviet and now Russian bombers and fighter jets fly into swedish airspace all the time and the Swedish government is like "Hey this is fine,surely not foreboding or any right?, It's not like we need to fix our defense or anything after all what is Russia going to to do?.". And when Russia pulls shit like this with Ukraine and all then it's like a big surprise.

[@andersnilsson7917]

Sweden has naively thought that we are protected by international law and “the world community”. Plus, being pro military has been seen as militaristic, a symptom of toxic masculinity and warmongering. In the cool new world of post modernism old fashioned ideals of strength and survival skills are frowned upon. The main problem with this world view is that it doesn’t take into accounts that the most likely aggressor nations to the west are led by people with a very old fashioned and traditional view of things and who see kindness as weakness and something that invites attack.

[@MrSpritzmeister]

@@andersnilsson7917 has this changed now?

[@andersnilsson7917]

@Whateverblaa - the realization is there that something has to be done but we have a long way to go before all parties in parliament can formulate a common direction and budget level for the armed forces. And then as this video points out, there is still a long way to go before suppliers are up and running at full capacity.

[@MrSpritzmeister]

@@andersnilsson7917 is there larger conscript intakes being announced as well? Also is being pro spending seen as being a contribution toxic masculinity?

[@Hybris51129]

Pretty much what I expected to hear. I remember when I was 12-13 years old in 2003 researching military preparedness of nations for a school project and even back then from what I could find online it seemed like this very scenario for many of the nations of Europe was being ignored. It's a case of the ant and the grasshopper and Germany is the Grasshopper.

[@RomanHistoryFan476AD]

Honestly I think the bean counters and the politicians in Germany and the rest of Europe really need to take a good hard look at their militaries and decide if they rather have the Ammo to fight with what they currently have or just a buy a few fancy new weapons in small numbers and with little to no Ammo reserves overall in their stockpiles. I rather have Ammo for what I have now. Because at the current set budgets for defence across Europe you can't afford both.

[@matchesburn]

Well, when the Soviet Union is no more and America is a gigantic bulwark for the better part of 30 years and bankrolls NATO even when European nations don't meet their required and agreed to funding levels for decades on end... Why would you prepare for it? Imagine someone that whenever you asked for outrageous sums of money to borrow, he hands over a wad of cash without even a pause and never asks you to pay him back... Some people are just going to take advantage of the situation. And it will work out great for them... Until said person stops giving them money and instead says they want to get their money paid back to them. With interest. Germany is finding out the hard way that ignoring your commitments (that you are legally obligated to, no less) for decades and allowing someone else to take up your slack means some painful times and decisions being necessary. Assuming they just don't flake out again upon seeing that Russia isn't the threat that they feared it was earlier this year.

[@SCH292]

@@RomanHistoryFan476AD Bro. I think Europe doesn't even want to do ANY of what you said. It seems that they want to do.."one time shopping purchase".

[@RomanHistoryFan476AD]

@@SCH292 Quite true actually it looks like they can't even be bothered to maintain what limited things they have.

[@SCH292]

@@RomanHistoryFan476AD If you look at some of the Eastern ALLIES they are depending on FREE Leopard 2 tanks and equipment from Germany. In a nut shell they give Ukraine their T72 tanks and Soviet equipment and Germany give them Leopard 2 tanks and more modernish NATO equipment. However if we look into this..Germany hasn't been maintaining their Leopard 2 tanks, the tools, the factories and its older equipment.

[@leftnoname]

Looking at the situation realistically, one cannot blame MOD for trying to push equipment procurement, since they realize, if opportunity isn’t taken now, it may not present itself in the foreseeable future. It would have been prudent on part of the German government to establish a separate financial commitment in order to meet the armed forces short and long term ammunition/spares/fuel requirements. Defense isn’t cheap, but, unfortunately, as we can see in Ukraine now, lack of defense is even more expensive and damaging.

[@stevenkraft8070]

This whole bit with the German Defense Minister saying that "Now that we're ordering these F-35s and such, it would be really nice if the Ministry of Finance would give us more money for ammunition" does sound kind of like the accusation you hear about cuts in local government budgets: "You want us to cut our spending? OK, we will start with police and the guys who fix potholes in the roads. And then we will get our budget back when you complain to the mayor about how your car got damaged when hitting a pothole and how police response to an emergency call is something like 15 minutes."

[@RomanHistoryFan476AD]

Wasn't there talks about just not bothering to rearm Germany by the Government. I think one of the biggest hurdles for Germany is the fact that many government officials and civil servants just don't want to rearm honestly, talk a good game about it yes. But never actually putting the hard work and money into it.

[@asiangaming8409]

Ever since hitler the German people decided to be more nicer, hate war and I have seen this a lot, they want to be weak, I use to love Germany till I came to this realization

[@dfueidj]

Well is Germany even Wörth defending?

[@RomanHistoryFan476AD]

@@dfueidj To the Germans yes.

[@Karelwolfpup]

@@RomanHistoryFan476AD but does the Bundestag agree with the Germans?

[@reubensandwich9249]

You could put every EU country, with the exemption of Poland, into that same mindset.

[@LackofFaithify]

That was the very best of bureaucratic preemptive striking I've ever heard. Getting your top guy to write a note bitching about not proceeding according to procedure, to be delivered to the top staffer of the person you are actually supposed to be working with to achieve a goal...like kids in high school afraid to talk to the classmate they like.

[@termitreter6545]

You could almost say its all politics xD

[@trazyntheinfinite9895]

You misread german politics. The secretarial level workers are the know how and know who of the ministeries. Ministers are the changing face, the blitzableiter. If you tell them to rebuild the Bundeswehr better, they will. But nooody tells em that. Nobody wants to go tell the germans some hard truths regarding that. Lack of manpower, lack of budget due to waste in other areas.

[@termitreter6545]

@@trazyntheinfinite9895 Dude, everyone says its lack of manpower and budget. Has been for 10+ years. You have zero clue about german politics if you think they trying to keep that a secret.

[@acceptablecasualty5319]

@@termitreter6545 I second this. We have ACTIVE DUTY LEADERSHIP describing our readyness as quote "Disastrous". Doesn't get clearer than that.

[@KenshiroPlayDotA]

I'm surprised nobody in the comments mentioned Perun's video about Germany's rearmament, which showcased how terrible German bureaucracy is. For example, it terribly focked up with the repairs of the Gorch Fock, jumping from an initial estimate of €10M to an actual cost €135M, and all of this for... a sailing training ship.

[@Sofus.]

The price is too high but in Perun's video he doesn't seem to be aware of Gorch Fock's symbolic importance.

[@nvelsen1975]

.....And a few hours after you posted that comment, Perun posts a video about ammunition shortages. 😆

[@theanonymspysandwich]

It's not terrible bureaucracy. They're laundering german taxpayers money. And they'll do until there's nothing left to take.

[@brandondavis7777]

@@Sofus. So, you put it in a Musuem, not keep it active to allow for corrupt politicians to line their pockets.

[@acceptablecasualty5319]

@@brandondavis7777 No, the Gorch Fock's significance is it's Seaworthiness. If it can't Display that, it's worthless.

[@casparcoaster1936]

I have been loving and watching tons and tons of WW2 docus on KZbin since recovering from brain surgery in 2017. And they only get better and better in last 5 years. The attack on Ukraine made the modern relavence like a 1000% greater. And this channel is one of the very best!!!!!!!!!!!! The irony of that date makes me believe the butterfly effect is no joke.

[@boerekable]

So much stuff was produced about WW2 and yet world leaders in 2022 failed to learn the most important lesson: Never start a war of aggression, you never know the outcome.

[@VunderGuy]

Indeed. The west should feel ashamed for starting this proxy war with Russia.

[@answerman9933]

Angela Merkel is the best chancellor Russia has ever had.

[@gamingrex2930]

Shes good, if putin and the russian mentality didnt exist.

[@answerman9933]

@@gamingrex2930 But is that not like saying Neville Chamberlain would have been good had Hitler not existed? At her level of governance every major player has to be considered.

[@devlin7575]

Meaning that within months of her leaving politics Putin grows larger maniacal balls and goes for Ukraine proper (finally)?

[@paulsabucchi]

No, Gerhard Schroeder was better for Russia! Merkel just followed in his footsteps

[@EdgyNumber1]

@@paulsabucchi And Scholz is in Putin's pocket.

[@CD-SU]

Been waiting for this video - I think a few of us thought its all gone quiet on the western, arms, front!

[@frankhernandez6883]

it HAS! Its the Eastern Front to worry about!

[@DanielWW2]

Because I am not that much burdened with the need for objectivity because I am not presenting this subject, I feel I might be able to sort of "translate" what seems to be going on. 😁 So basically this happened: Politicians without any semblance of reality, let alone competence in the matters they are supposed to oversee, wanted to buy new, lots and (very) shiny toys so they can now claim to have a powerful army without understanding what that means. Then insiders who have a clue what they are talking about, said the politicians plans don't make any sense and just throwing a bag of money at something doesn't work. They pointed out that both the armed forces and industry need a clearly defined plan that ensures the armed forces build up actual and defined capabilities. So actual combat strength, readiness levels for every unit, stockpiles of spare parts and munitions, training standards, consumption figures per year for training, size of the strategic stockpiles etc etc. Meanwhile the industry needs to gets the assurances that their investments into production capacity, can be earned back by a sustained amount of orders over a longer period. In the background a distrust from industry against the politicians exist because the politicians once again show they have no clue what they are talking about and don't seem to want to commit to such assurances. Thus industry isn't willing to commit because they are afraid to get burned if politicians change their mind. And can you really blame them? Then the finance ministry in very diplomatic terms basically said: You bunch of incompetent clowns, fix your own mess and make an actual spending plan before you start begging for more money. Its almost like this is a constantly reoccurring theme. 🤔

[@jamesrowlands8971]

This is pretty much it, but it's so systemic that you missed the most interesting part of the video. A supposedly industrially powerful country like Germany can't even do all of this, if the attitudes change, and contracts are signed without importing specialty equipment from China. Just like every other industrial sector in the entire Western world.

[@bastisonnenkind]

Also you have missed that many many people in Germany did not like the Bundeswehr (we even have some that want to disband it and also the view has changed with the war in Ukraine). So every Euro that was spend towards the Bundeswehr had to be fought hard over.

[@williamzk9083]

Germany will need to go to 2.5% defense expenditue of GDP to mee the Russian threat. In the 1960s at the height of the cold war it wwas as high as 6% of GDP. The damage of low defense expenditure wwas not just to the Germany Military it was to the German defense industry. The German defense industry now can not supply the weapons needed such as heavy lift helicopters, stealth fighters and long range AT missiles and these are bing imported at huge expense.

[@williamzk9083]

@@bastisonnenkind University education can make you stupid.

[@bastisonnenkind]

@@williamzk9083 Could you explain what do you want to express with that?

[@whitewinederarck2253]

Dear Sir, please accept my gratitude for your excellent work. You display such high levels of insight, intellect, balance and clarity. Your work is important- keep educating people. Thank you, Derek.

[@martindice5424]

Excellent again Chris. Yup. The Germans have a pressing need to enter this universe rather than the parallel one their defence industry has been relegated to since the fall of the USSR. You guys are a continental power which basically means a strong army (and airforce). NATO can sort out the wavy navy stuff (and a lot of the air components too). Happy new year mate! 👍👍

[@williamzk9083]

It's a miracle the German defense industry has survived at all. IRIS-T SM is a private venture that relied on sales to Egypt. Lynx is private venture, Puma is chronically underfunded so that its systems upgrade were left to the last minute, Rheinmetal SkyNex is also a private venture. The worst situation is with the German ATGM (anti tank guided missile) which is the Spike based MELLS that is a license produced Spike. Israel won't allow export of the Spike to Ukraine hence this seriously imperils Europe ability to defend itself by supporting its neighbours. Germany produced the outstanding Trigat LR missile for the Eurocopter Tiger (only 500 missiles) that proved they could have produced a shoulder launched version. Germany is too dependent on Israel which is a country concerned only with itself and profit.

[@devlin7575]

Well put

[@jgw9990]

@William zk German defence industry is actually very good on the world stage, outside Germany. Because when other governments hire Rheinmetal etc they put in long term contract commitments and actually hold to them. German politics and bureaucracy are just unreliable.

[@dwwolf4636]

German navy big stuff is cringe worthy. Almost as bad as the LCS for cost effectiveness and combat power.

[@termitreter6545]

@@williamzk9083 Oh right, the Israelis only care about profit. Careful mate, youre about to show your antisemitism.

[@cannonfodder4376]

Making major defense spending changes on November 11th... hmmmm. But nobody ever has enough ammo, some just have a more serious problem than others. Informative as always Chris.

[@juavi6987]

It's no special day in Germany, exept it is Saint Martin and beginning of carnival season

[@lucaheinrichs]

I simply don't get what is so funny here. Enlighten me, please.

[@juavi6987]

@@lucaheinrichs I think this was the ending date of the First Worldwar, which is still an important rememberance date for british

[@libertarian1536]

There is a gun store in Houston Texas that last year had 9mm and 5.56 made in Germany they had by the pallet load. Good stuff I bought aa few boxes.

[@blondeguy08]

Lol the irony

[@jamesbarca7229]

The clip at (0:29) is both funny and sad at the same time. Obviously, the German soldier knew it was a machine gun, he just seemed to be in disbelief that he was actually being allowed to fire it.

[@ausmax1972]

You'd be surprised how many people have to be told to fire longer bursts on things like a .50 Browning. Most lighter (lesser?) MGs are used with short (2-3 or 3-5) bursts, but the BMG likes 5-10 round bursts. It's certainly a more intimidating weapon to operate than your average LMG or GPMG.

[@janakakumara3836]

its almost like he suddenly realized there is no ammo shortage.

[@willw8011]

The German military has the M2, so seems strange that the US Army is cross training Germans to use the M2 50 cal.

[@scifidude184]

Mainly because the MG3 has double the fire rate and the Heer does not use the M2 on tripod. It is vehicle mount only. The gunner is used to the MG3's fire rate.

[@SlavicCelery]

@@scifidude184 Having seen the full clip, he was dropping singles and doubles, and an occasional triple. He was babying the trigger and letting go immediately.

[@hnangell]

Great video! The most important of all your presentations.

[@gbcb8853]

"Who calls the shots" in military procurement? Priceless! Perfect English satire.

[@edwardloomis887]

The joy derived from firing Ma Deuce for one member of the Bundeswehr: 0:33. I totally relate to the look on his face.

[@Archangelm127]

This whole thing sounds like an episode of "Yes, Minister."

[@WildBikerBill]

'Yes, Minister' was a primer on how government really works presented in a comedic way. As such, it has aged amazingly well.

[@nopenotme6369]

Glad to see I wasn’t the only one thinking of “Yes Minister” the German edition.

[@Archangelm127]

@@WildBikerBill I believe Margaret Thatcher was on record as saying it was her favorite TV show, precisely for that reason. I do know that she wrote a short sketch of herself, Jim Hacker, and Sir Humphry; you can find the script if you Google it. XD

[@mensch1066]

The Chinese made cotton linter issue mentioned at 5:57 is a good example of how the West is seemingly unable to come up with a coherent roadmap for the future (the same might be true for non-Western societies, but the lack of quality open access information from governmental sources makes it hard to judge). There's a push in the West right now (which even Scholz pays lip service to) about reducing dependence on China. And yet a whole range of priorities from producing more ammunition to more electric car batteries and solar panels depends on more trade with China. One has to choose priorities and make compromises accordingly (like the US cutting environmental red tape to get more rare earth mineral mines online quickly). But the nature of decision-making is so compartmentalized (as seen in that exchange between the German Defense and Finance Ministry bureaucrats in this video) that decisions in some areas cause unintended consequences in others (e.g. see the "Inflation Reduction Act" in the US starting a trade war with Europe due to subsidies for American "green energy" companies just as Europe and the US are ostensibly cooperating more on defense issues).

[@AsbestosMuffins]

I feel like a lot of the reluctance to isolate from adversarial powers still comes from germany. Both France, Britain and others seem ready and willing to go full domestic but germany constantly balks at it for some reason

[@bismarkbear9723]

so true

[@pizzapiglet]

The Pentagons primary focus for well over a decade has been war with China. We will see more and more alignment with this agenda from private industry, politicians and Allies in the coming months as it becomes less compartmentalized with readiness.

[@00yiggdrasill00]

@@AsbestosMuffins the German government as a whole seems to be struggling to adjust to to the reality that being surrounded by allies doesn't mean you are safe and free from responsibility, and that trade between nations is a very minor deterrent to aggression. We in Australia are a nation that has long been targeted by Chinese aggression, our biggest trade partner, so we could have told them that a decade ago.

[@Go-ah-oold]

@@AsbestosMuffins Germany is not so lucky with its natural resources as it once was. Back at the time when it was more then twice the size of now, they had lots, now they lost all of that very valuable land, and have quite good population, but very low mining. Most needs to be imported, and there is the issue.

[@masonharper4220]

Bismark for Christmas I got your stuka book!!! It's awesome

[@NASWOG]

Please keep this content coming. I’m an American and I swear i’m trying to learn German but it’s tough as an adult😂. Until that day comes i need you to give me the scoop. We care but we’re also a nation that refuses to teach children other languages. On a serious note; Been enjoying your content for years, thanks bud.

[@vincentrisalvato9921]

GERMAN LIKE CHINESE IS A UGLY LANGUAGE, THE MOST BEAUTIFUL LANGUAGE IS ITALIAN, ITS SUCH A BEAUTIFUL LANGUAGE..... THERE ARE SO MANY LANGUAGES THAT ARE JUST UGLY AND ANNOYING, I HATE LISTENING TO CHINESE PEOPLE TALKING SAME WITH GERMAN PEOPLE JUST AN UGLY ANNOYING SOUND...

[@nvelsen1975]

That's actually really good to hear. If I'm honest it annoys me how Americans are like that. The ones I've met can live somewhere 20+ years and still refuse to speak anything but English and adapt their customs. And if you train them I could swear they carry a facial expression that says "We have to politely pretend to listen to what the Eurotrash is saying about peacekeeping before we go back to our way of ignoring that, killing whoever gets labeled Taliban and using our warlord whose actions create new insurgents faster than we can neutralise them". That's become a bit of a bitter last laugh situation nearly 15 years down the line, but hey. I guess I really need to hear sometimes that there are either exceptions to the rule, or it's not so much a rule as you thought it was.

[@williamzk9083]

Having three definite articles "Der/Die/Das" seems to allow construction of very long sentences. One day after working in Germany I started to dream in German. I also found myself constructed rather long complex sentences. It was like learning a new computer language, somethings were easier to say and think through, others were a bit harder.

[@NASWOG]

There are many of us. We. Tend to stay under the radar though. In general though, the stereotypes are correct

[@williamzk9083]

@@NASWOG Any island nation has less need of any overseas language.

[@schnaufer5181]

This video is especially ironic for me cause I’ve been buying surplussed out German ammo for years, the stuff is perfectly fine

[@rumo893]

Though I hope not the kind of ammunition we are talking about here, like artillery shells and rockets. But yeah, I’m guessing the German Army is really anal about the „best before“ date.

[@schnaufer5181]

@@rumo893 I mean, it wasn't specifically mentioned but I'd be willing to bet the ammo problems include small arms ammunition, me thinks maybe the Germans should be a bit less anal

[@RichelieuUnlimited]

I imagine the surplus ammo doesn’t meet current armor penetration standards.

[@schnaufer5181]

@@RichelieuUnlimited You'd think that but you gotta remember that that isn't an issue for training, where 90% of ammo is fired

[@jamesrowlands8971]

@@schnaufer5181 90% of ammo might be fired in training in peacetime, but Ukraine has fired more shells in a day than Britain keeps in it's stockpile altogether.

[@garywheble4534]

Totally agree with you on sorting out the base problem not only in the Bundaswier but in most NATO country's have done the same thing cut corners and spending you can not not have a serious Army if your soldiers have to shout bang on training exercises in a tank Regerment you can't have four out of twelve tanks off the road because you have9 no spear parts and back up parts to keep them running once you have them on the road even down to the smallest items a soldier needs like socks and boots getting those right saves alot of problems down the road

[@blessedheavyelements8544]

Thank You very much! Well reasoned, analytical presentation. Best Regards and Best Wishes for 2023!

[@Mrtweet81]

Isn’t the ammunition the most important thing of all? Better to have 10 guns and 1000 rounds of ammunition than 1000 guns and 10 rounds of ammunition…

[@MaxMustermann-ze1iv]

In war times yes. In Peace times with a corrupt government that is only trying to maximize lobbying efforts its better to show 1000 soldiers with 1000 guns to the media to better push their agenda of "look we dont need more military spending let's push the coal industry more my brother has a big cooperative that we might look into for financial support... to create more jobs and lower unemployment of course..."

[@senorsalami]

Always On point, great channel and a very dedicated human!! Good work Sir.

[@liberteus]

No ammo, no army. Look at spare parts too, because you need to store them in case of war so you can replace whatever breaks on the spot... Most of European spending barely provides minimum for their armies, and there are lots of helicopters not flying, planes being cannibalized, soldiers not shooting their guns more than twice a year etc etc...

[@russellnixon9981]

Great content. We in the UK always have this idea that Germany dose things so much better than us, but from this analysis we share the same problems.

[@murphy7801]

Nah there about as incompetent as you for the military. If want to look at the leading military of Europe you have to look at France. I know a Brit would hate to hear that. But there price to performance and logistics are the best.

[@robertbelton7635]

Yep .. the UK military has definitely been hamstrung by politicians for a very long time

[@cartlaidiania]

@@murphy7801 The French-bashing by uninformed people both irl and online is aggravating. France would demolish Germany in a modern conflict.

[@nirfz]

Honestly i personally would rather look at eastern european countries like the Baltic states and poland for that, than to France. Maybe i am mistaken with my opinion. France has reduced their own defense industry drastically over the decades and lost lot's of capabilities in that sector. For example, they had several arsenals and state owned manufacturers of small arms, and in the last 30-40 years shut everything down. They even had to buy german rifles to replace their standard issue ones as they closed the manufacturing of those too long ago. Sure they stil can uild aircraft like the Rafale, but they lost lot's of capabilites and knowledge to make things they need due to politial decisions. And i wouldn't be surprised if it didn't end with the rifle manufacturing but also included loosing manufacturing and know how with stuff that has more impact on the battlefield.

[@heywoodjablowme8120]

Why are the streets of Paris lined with trees? To shade the Germans while they march. Sieg heil.

[@denismorgan9742]

Take your time, work it out, get it right. This will speed things up. Don't panic about where things are going wrong and bodge it up.

[@Protorit]

lol, "it's a machine gun" meme is the infantry equivalent to the "the missile know where it is".

[@jan-pcro]

No no, you need to spend all the money for consultants and of course the consultant companys are from your familys friends. welcome to germany! We dont say corrupt, we say lobbying

[@JeffBilkins]

Imagine if a group of countries could like collaborate as a block to get good deals on weapons and ammo.

[@A_Haunted_Pancake]

🤔, Maybe they could form some kind of treaty organisation ...

[@davidcox3076]

Further imagine that such a collaborative had common calibers, making ammo even easier to procure in bulk.

[@cas343]

Sounds like a good idea. But like Socialism it will never work.

[@ddshiranui]

@@A_Haunted_Pancake Or some kind of union for European countries? But the problem is that there always seems to be someone that blocks such ideas out of fear about "sovereignty", or they'd distrust the organization with regards to how the purchased materiel is distributed.

[@conormcmaster1113]

We had an ammo problem for the challi 2 a few years back , factory where the rounds were made closed and had to go a foreign manufacturer

[@easy_eight2810]

German soldier: I'm running out of ammo! His grandfather: Erstes Mal?

[@allangibson8494]

And great grandfather too.

[@robert506007]

As a fellow of the commonwealth I agree. Incredibly Ironic they would make defence speeding changes on November 11.

[@mensch1066]

I think there are two systems level issues here that relate to any Western/Westernized country, and not just to Germany. First, it may well be true that modern governments need formal bureaucracies. The world has become too complicated for countries to be run by a ruler and their circle of advisors at Court. However, bureaucracies very much become another branch of government, and one that tends to operate on autopilot. Furthermore, the very same rules we create to make this bureaucracy independent of political influence (e.g. Civil Service reforms) make those same institutions devilishly hard to change even when a need to do so is identified. There's no guarantee the reform will even work. Creating a Department of Homeland Security is arguably the biggest shakeup of the United States federal bureaucracy in my lifetime, and yet the TSA still regularly fails audits (i.e. they fail to detect simulated munitions and explosives in luggage). Second, on a different video currently in early access, Dr. Sophy Antrobus notes that most politicians can talk about "kitchen table" issues like school lunches or public transit, but very few have any knowledge of matters like defense. Given that the core functions of any government are security related (i.e. you can't talk much about the standard of living if you are unable to stop external or internal acts of aggression), this should make one wonder if it is possible to reform defense, intelligence, diplomatic and perhaps even law enforcement bureaucracies if the people who need to draw up and vote on the reforms have no idea what they are doing. [The same can be said about macroeconomics, environmental matters and a whole lot else to be honest. Simply wanting the government to "do something" about some 'kitchen table' issue is all very nice, but if you don't understand your government's taxation and budgeting situations nor the global economic outlook, then your feel good reform will probably just make matters worse elsewhere.]

[@MilitaryAviationHistory]

Germany is an easy example to take right now given very public discussion inside and outside of the country. The +decade old cutting if defense expenditures, its position in Europe, its international politics and the seemingly snail pace right now are easy fodder, although substantive criticism is warranted on many things. While there are certain issues that make Germany into its own special case, the issues are very much universal in the west.

[@Tom-uk2ow]

But to be honest,every western country live beyond income...Germany like others dont have money for such army..

[@JD-tn5lz]

@@MilitaryAviationHistory can't entirely agree with you, though I do on most. Unless you don't consider the USA a western nation, which in a sense it is either the prototypical or an original beast. The USA certainly knows how to write checks for defense spending. Maybe the Germans should overcome a little of their Old World arrogance and take a lesson from the USA about how to spend (and waste) big defense money?😆

[@Some_Average_Joe]

It's not a bug, it's a feature. Modern government beauracracy could be more efficient, it's designed not too work properly so they can point at it to justify privatization and tax cuts. I would point to the US Internal Revenue Service as a good example.

[@penultimateh766]

@@Some_Average_Joe As an American, I WANT the government to work poorly at all times except when arresting criminals or destroying our enemies (maybe repairing roads too). Freedom and productivity die when government is too competent.

[@FinsburyPhil]

Excellent insight. Happy New Year!

[@knickebien1966]

Turn on the "infinite ammo supply" in the settings control panel and shoot all you want!

[@TurboHappyCar]

Just equip the blue bandana with the infinity ∞ symbol. 😂

[@Dog.soldier1950]

It’s actually 1-800 USA DOD

[@laisphinto6372]

thats a murica only cheat code

[@SonsOfLorgar]

In addition to the things you mentioned, I think it would be prudent to legislate that the munitions manufacturers should keep the procurement administration informed of the types, qualities and proportions of raw materials and components required/1000units to produce the ammo for all weapons in and within ten years projected to enter service so that the defense forces can keep a buffer stockpile of those materials. I also would like to see, at least in my own country that the tooling for a complete production line of the most used type of ammunition in each weapon system to be likewise procured and stored in a climate controlled protected location so that production capacity can be rapidly expanded regardless of the limits of private buisness practices.

[@Lost-In-Blank]

I remember that RUSI report from a couple of weeks ago. If the UK were to use ammunition at the rate Ukraine is using ammunition, the UK would have exhausted its artillery shell supply within half-a-week. But the UK could not have done that, because the UK does not have as many pieces of artillery. It would take the UK two weeks to send that many shells. That being the UK's ammunition status, does any NATO country besides the USA have enough ammunition to last one month against a near-peer adversary?

[@jamesrowlands8971]

And Russia fires 10x as many shells as Ukraine does.

[@ChucksSEADnDEAD]

​@@jamesrowlands8971They use the Soviet stockpile, so that's kind of irrelevant.

[@jamesrowlands8971]

@@ChucksSEADnDEAD a lot of their modern ammunition that they're firing is produced this year. Russia had 8 years to prepare for this, and they didn't just trust Lockheed Martin execs to do the right thing. They organised this at a state level. That's why there's 150,000 Ukrainian KIA.

[@ChucksSEADnDEAD]

@@jamesrowlands8971 Yes, and the modern production seems to have the most QC issues. Russia turns empty fields into the moon surface, we know. We've seen the pictures. How is this relevant?

[@jamesrowlands8971]

@@ChucksSEADnDEAD why did you just gloss over the fact that Ukraine has had in excess of 150,000 KIA? Are you really that heartless?

[@JamesLaserpimpWalsh]

Thanks for the intel Chris

[@mcallahan9060]

Seems like a reasonable time to be low on ammo... 😳😳

[@HedgehogZone]

Hat is because germany is sending millions of bullets to ukraine every month. Pretty much all their ammunition they use right now is from germany. With the exception of rockets and 155 mm that comes mainly from the usa.

[@sonatine3266]

Some more info: - Germany is actually the only country openly speaking about it, but many countries have the problem of not enough ammo for a war - to get enough ammo for months of battle with all kinds of scenarios, it would need 20-30 billion € (the current order for ammo is around 8 billion €) - there are still some "hidden" ammo stocks, the German governmant DID NOT publish, so when people found out about a few, there seems to be more ammo than expected before

[@patta8388]

Was in from 2006 to 2008, there were massive ammunition problems even back then. More often than not there was no ammo for training, because tha majority was send to Afghanistan

[@Pincer88]

Happy New Year. Great analysis. I think many of the earlier scrooge-like allies (my own country, the Netherlands included) will find it hard to make the switch back to something that is basically a Cold War mindset. Bureaucracy, politicians and industry have lost a lot of know how, routines and way of looking at things that incorporate consequential and long-term thinking. But there seem to be three distinct other elements no one speaks out loud about, but which I notice in the measures taken here in the Netherlands, that may also affect the German Zeitwende. First - talking specifically about NL here - there seems to be an implicit hope or notion even, that all of this will blow over in a few months anyway, so no need to make firm decisions and commitments. NATO HQ and SACEUR complained Nl did not invest in heavy weapons for the Army (Koninklijke Landmacht) and demanded that Nl would field two complete mechanized brigades with their own organic tank battalions, air- and field artillery, etc. Instead NL invested in cyber, drones, new trucks, a few extra F-35As and cruise missiles while concentrating mainly on repairing what was lost due to long overdue maintenance and repair. Second, there's here in NL the age old political reflex of making it look as if our country is heavily investing without actually delivering immediate increases in combat power. Pure symbolic politics in short. From the extra budget (€3 bln annually) 300 million is being invested in making defense real estate and infrastructure greener, with another sum going into research in electrification of light vehicles and robotics. None of which contributes to much needed combat capabilities, but at least the bean counters can show NATO we are investing (in the wrong things, hurray!). NATO of course didn't fall for that and now government is upset that 'brown washing' the budget didn't fool anyone. Third, in all plans industry gets a great share of the spending, again without increases in combat power. So a lot of money is falling in the wrong hands. It's understandable that defense industry must be reinvigorated, but since the Netherlands all but sold off their most essential industries, portions of the budget now go to companies that have only the remotest connection with defense. Besides that, lots of the genuine material investments go to foreign companies rather than rebuilding a domestic industrial base. I hope Germany gets its industry in order, because I've got a suspicion who people in the Hage are going to call when things go sideways. I sincerely hope Germany will avoid these pitfalls and that Berlin will help NATO to remind Dutch politicians where their priorities should lie (or else). I hope Scholz and his cabinet will insist and prepare a few persuasive arguments (let's make Dutch trucks specifically pay extra for use of the Autobahn or put extra VAT on Dutch tomatos ('Wasserbomben') ) to help the usually very opportunistic Dutch politicians. God knows I'm sick and tired of them, hopefully the feeling is shared in Berlin. Wünsch euch von diesem Kanal alles erdenklich Gute in 2023! Herzl. Gruß aus den Niederlande.

[@philstaples8122]

I was in the British Army stationed in Germany from around 1984 to 87 and as a regiment we spent around 4 - 6 months a year in the field either on exercise or live firing on ranges either in Germany or in Canada, did quite a few Field Training Exercises and as far as I'm concerned the Germans looked pretty good back then, it sounds like things went downhill even faster for you than they did for us British. Pull your socks up boxheads ;) we want you back where you deserve to be :)

[@mandarinandthetenrings2201]

No Phil, they didn't go down hill. You need to understand Germany industrialize to fast when you do that you don't have enough babies. Then when the 1970's hit and "Inflation" that killed the German population because having Babies is inflationary. Germany ran out babies twenty years ago now their running out 30's somethings right now. Most the German population is in their 50's going into their 60's that not a population that want to go to war.

[@robshirewood5060]

van der leyen was also effing things up there in German mod

[@mandarinandthetenrings2201]

@Wilhelm Eley No Whilem Eley, that not what happen to Germany and England. Shall tell you what happen. It America that broke the "Imperial System" of German and the United Kingdoms.

[@mandarinandthetenrings2201]

@Wilhelm Eley Before World War I, The Imperial System dominated the world, economic markets were small because Kings and Emperors petty and jealous wanted that way to keep their people down and should they go to war Spain, Britain, France, the United Kingdoms supply chains and logistics were kept separate from one another. There was almost no trading even within their colonies all the resources were suck up by the Mega Cities (the Beast) Paris, London, Madrid, and Berlin. These massive cities need massive amounts of imputs, coal, tea, sugar anything the colonies could give the to maintain enormous size.

[@mandarinandthetenrings2201]

@Wilhelm Eley But German problem is that it has 6 main gate ways of invasions into it's heartland. Through out your long history Wihelm Eley one European power has invaded your lands and beaten you up, Franks, the Pols, the Hungarians and even Sweds. In your history the Germans realized they had to be better than every one else around because they were always being invaded. You where the one first in Europe to have a Standing Army since the time of Romans. You were one first Europeans to have mandatory schools for all children in German.

[@CharliMorganMusic]

Please make a deep dive into German arms industry (yes, I saw Perun's video)

[@marcelthevirginian1656]

America gets flak for being militaristic, intervention-happy, for its military-industrial complex etc., and to a certain degree those criticisms are warranted, but I see Germany as having the opposite problem. Which is in part an over-reaction to its genuinely horrific past as well as a myopic complacency brought on by years of peace. There's a way to prudently maintain your country's defense without going the route of "liberating" every other country in the third world, but it was avoided by Germany because of an over-the-top cultural wariness for anything military.

[@ddshiranui]

I share your thoughts; it's like the US and Germany both swing to different extremes when the sweet spot would be somewhere in the middle. At least there does seem to be a shift in public opinion now.

[@nikolatasev4948]

I suppose they did not want to sign long term contracts for ammo and spare parts for platforms that may be retired shortly. It makes sense to check what large new items you can buy, and when you can receive them, and from that plan on how much you need to buy for your current military systems. Why there was a shortage of ammo and spare parts for current platforms is another matter entirely. It makes no sense, and from what I read it was a large part of Australia ditching European helicopters, both the Tigers and more recently the Taipan.

[@JoshuaC923]

Happy New Year mate. Quite sad to see Germany in such a situation. If my country was in such a conundrum we might have been invaded decades ago, hope you guys get it sorted out

[@williamzk9083]

Pschologically Germans were living in a world of idealism in which there was European Unity and Russia became a normal trading nation with good relations. Psychologically the media and government had not prepared the population. There was an ugly disparagement of the German military by the left (by which I include the CDU which is left)

[@brettk9316]

Germany has American bases in their country no one would be dumb enough to invade them!

[@williamzk9083]

@@brettk9316 There aren't that many bases in Germany. The US kept Ukraine disarmed for 28 years almost to the invasion and Obama did nothing in 2014 when Russia invaded Ukraine. Note also the 2020 election when the US and US media went to kooksville and told every lie imaginable (both sides but mainly the left) and when Portland had CHAZ zones. I think Putin saw that discord and saw it as an opportunity to invade.

[@termitreter6545]

I can assure you, theres lots of countries that are in the place germany is. Theres just more attention with germany, and its military generally is a lot more transparent. Eg giving out official readiness figures was pretty unique to it. Even countries like the UK, which is generally rated higher in military terms, got some crazy military shortcomings. Eg their tanks, despite plenty use in the middle east, hadnt gotten major upgrades for 20+ years. UK didnt even have a factory capable of makign an upgrade. Rheinmetall had to come make the Challenger 3 and rebuilt facilities in the UK, of all things. Then again, the german defense industry is kinda kept alive by exports. So its not the german government you can thank for those capabilities.

[@termitreter6545]

@@brettk9316 The reason nobody fears invasion of germany is a) NATO, b) being surrounded by allies and c) not having made enemies. Like, how would you even invade Germany? Sneak through Poland? Try to secretely D-Day from the baltic sea? There could be no american basis in Germany and the picture wouldnt change. Outside of weakening NATO as a whole.

[@kajlennartsson4234]

Happy new year.

[@whya2ndaccount]

2:37 That MG gunner is about to have a bad day if they don't close the feed cover.

[@mlong5151]

They gota about 90 to 120 days to get it right, looks like we are going metal on metal within that time frame.. According to who I read

[@sheldoniusRex]

Gawd I hope. And hopefully the global cabal lose so hard there are pitchforks and effigies outside every bureaucracy from Warsaw to Sidney and back again.

[@grahamhufton7715]

Love the insight you give with a pinch of biting humour.

[@matthiasklopke161]

Ammunition for the Puma infantry fighting vehicle was purchased a few days ago for 575 million euros. We receive 600,000 rounds for this sum. That is 960€ (1020 US$) for each single cartridge! We have several hundred of these puma-tanks. And it is an automatic gun that can consume 200 rounds/minute (?). I have since learned that this ammunition can be programmed when fired; but still this seems to be very expensive. Is ammunition for other comparable cannons also that expensive?

[@orlock20]

The 155mm Excalibur round costs $150,000 each. One European country is buying standard HE 155mm rounds for 3,300 euros each.

[@matthiasklopke161]

@@orlock20 Excalibur seems to be very expensive too. But you get a lot of bang from those shells. a 30mm is way smaller.

[@theimmortal4718]

I've been an armored crewman in the Bradley. You don't fire many rounds per engagement, and the programmable rounds are on the HE. You use sabot, which is cheaper, against other IFVs. The programmable HE is worth it because it takes fewer rounds to be effective against trucks, troops, and drones.

[@willbarnstead3194]

When people really want to get something done, it gets done. Case in point, liquified natural gas infrastructure in Germany, gas reserves are at historic highs. There is an easy solution, long term contracts for ammunition purchases. Industry can do it, they just need a contract. The fact that Germany has failed to do this in almost a year speaks to how seriously the German government is taking this situation. In other words, not at all seriously.

[@dfueidj]

Well why should IT WHO will Attack us?

[@AdamantLightLP]

Germany better leave NATO if it's not willing to take care of its own defense needs. Sick and tired of Europeans making fun of the US defense spending when they piggyback off of us via NATO.

[@nvelsen1975]

@@dfueidj Let me mirror your statement in a very ironic way: Germany is currently being attacked by freaks claiming the WHO 'will attack us' and they have been for 2 years. And no resistance whatsoever was offered to this invader.

[@auzor5900]

For small arms ammo, EU is camping under the tree waiting to see what the future ammunition will be; plastic or not, 5.56 & 7.62 mixture, or going to 6.5-6.7 mm, ... Even PDW ammo is not standardized, with the FN P90 5.7mm, and the German 4.3?mm one. Any 'long term contract' should just have the ability to swap to a different cartridge for a written down cost, and it can be done. Oh, you mean ammunition to shoot with *tomorrow*? Eh, it'll sort itself out right?

[@northwoodsdad7506]

After the fall of the USSR, Europe went on a spending spree using the defense budget as a piggy bank. While relying on the US to guarantee their safety. All while criticizing the US. Europe needs to understand now that the newest shinier toy often means you can't afford the basics. The US has been fighting the beurocrats about this for a long time. The A10 story is the perfect example.

[@sevrent2811]

interesting to see this meanwhile the U.S military got the greenlight from congress to do multi-year-procurment contracts for munitions. And now the DoD is DRAMATICALLY increasing production of a broad range of munitions, some are being more than doubled

[@trottermalone379]

Excellent insights and commentary. It should be no surprise to anyone (including the Russians) that when the EU defense readiness “tide” finally went out it revealed that none of the EU NATO members was wearing a bathing suit. At least the Germans seem to understand what it might mean to have to walk to the parking lot without one.

[@unclejoeoakland]

I think that some countries are more prepared than others. Oddly, it seems the Baltic states are, in proportional terms, far better armed than the Germans or French. The British seem to take this a bit more seriously (EU membership aside) and Poland seems outright gung-ho. Sweden and Finland, from outside NATO, on their worst day tend to outspent many NATO states because they had to. Hence the Finnish and Swedish conscription, and the prolific technological development in Sweden for weapons.

[@trottermalone379]

@@unclejoeoakland Absent actual spending data, I would be inclined to agree. My point would be that the wealthiest (by far) country in the EU seems to have at least a bit of decency, but only when exposed to all.

[@williamzk9083]

@@unclejoeoakland France and UK both got down below 2% spending of GDP on defense. They couldn't really drop any lower since they have to maintain their nuclear deterrent. Britain introduced a new SAM system called SkySabre but before even a single systems became operational it scrapped all of its Rapier System rather than pay for storage. I would suspect several dozen Rapier Systems could have been supplied to Ukraine. Of course Germany doesn't have enough land to grow its food, or any oil and gas. France can grow its own food and has nuclear power and Britain has North Sea Oil and Gas. It's just not so easy for Germany to increase the price of its exports 2% to pay for the Military without cutting into something else such as EU integration money for Eastern Europe.

[@jgw9990]

@Trotter Malone Germany has had to be dragged kicking and screaming back to reality, from the pacifist fantasy land they've lived in since 1990. Even now some Germans still want to return to that fantasy which has led to a bipolar effort at rearming.

[@nvelsen1975]

That's not entirely accurate. Dutch defense spending has been increasing since 2014 in both absolute numbers and percentage of GDP. A 25% increase over 2014-2019. (statistics from the CBS) For 2023 it'll be 1,66% of GDP, rising to 2% in 2024, which means we're topping all NATO members' spending rates (relative number) of 2018 numbers with the exception of the US and Greece. (Rijksoverheid 20-9-2022) Which given the fact that we had to bail the Americans out of their GWoT AND had to bail out significant chunks of Europe that spend huge amounts on their military, such as Greece and France, and we're leading the energy transition while countries like Italy and Poland don't give a shit, is quite something on our part. The only real problem we had was an insane plan to banish our marines to Zeeland, which was done to please a corrupt regionalist politician, Carla Peijs. This ate up tens of millions on unnecessary facilities, and not upgrading their current facilities (which are 'rats scurrying all over the floor' levels of bad). Also it lead to mass-resignation of career officers, NCOs and soldiers, none of whom could explain at home that their drive to work would now cost 6-8 hours per day or we had to act like it was 1930 and 'the wife' simply uproots to follow her husbands poorly paid job so that the family lives in poverty. It won't surprise you that Carla Peijs' party is badly conservative, so making the assumption that soldiers' spouses don't work, don't have a life and will resist being banished to a rural part of the country where there's no work, no schools, nothing, is something that they are dumb enough to do. Anyway, that plan has been cancelled. The dumb regionalists demanded another 70 million be wasted on their rathole province for the 'loss of opportunity' and we're not back on the right track.

[@Lowlandlord]

Happy New Years!

[@devlin7575]

I rediscovered your Channel very recently. Thank God. Finding an intelligent and balanced approach to (+assessments of) important military topics is not under appreciated by this KZbin user. Thank you. Context: If I see one more KZbin algo-suggestion that leads me to some ex NCO from one the SF crews (US or UK) serving up a puff piece or some anti ‘big government’, or anti Biden type discussion on the loss of American values, or a diatribe on a warrior culture being an ideal for the modern man to emulate or achieve (+that all ‘good citizens’ should have a weapon on their hip), I might delete the KZbin app!

[@LewisRenovation]

German army with logistics problems ... how unusual

[@allangibson8494]

Ditto the Russians…

[@muthamid]

This highlights several situations. The question of imports Vs national production and the dependency on others and the dangers of that, specially if non EU. Political factors on which visibility from new shiny things are always preferable to spending in support items, although essential, as ammo. Shifts of policy that have altered the missions allocated to the Armed Forces, forgetting the needs and demands that planning for such missions implied. It's time to start thinking on an EU level instead of a National one with the extreme limitations of such.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

What's the German for shouting "bang"? Will we see German Squadies running around singing the equivalent of "I got y', I shot y', and y' bloody know I did" (from Kids' Game from Willy Russell's musical Blood Brothers.

[@laisphinto6372]

nah we shoot Stern warnings ,flowers and maybe speeding tickets and harrass enemies for not having proper licenses

[@nanorider426]

Thank you for a important discussion or essay. ^^

[@jaihawkins]

As an Australian I can fully appreciate German frustration with procurement issues 😅

[@richardcostello360]

I mean we're STILL issued Redback Terra 😆 And dont get me started on the "exploding" Crye pants we had in the 00's .......

[@GrigoriZhukov]

New and Shiney is nice. But having been at the pointy end of the stick. Plenty of spare parts and ammo is better than, no spares, no ammo and it's still not working. M60A2 I'm looking at you.

[@Petriefied0246]

It's amazing to think that Germany has neglected its military to this extent!

[@kgjung2310]

Peace makes for a poor army especially when that peace was always just an illusion or just wishful thinking.

[@eddiemack1848]

Or you could nationalize all munitions factories. Profit have no place when state survival is at stake. And produce as much as you need at cost.

[@jik294]

With the Rumors I've heard about the State of the German Military over the past decade plus, It almost sounds that, in the mid and long term, it would actually be cheaper to buy all new equipment. BUT, that's insanely expensive. I feel a better use of funds would be like a 70/30 split. 70% towards repairing the Military as it sits now and 30% towards acquisition of new equipment. This Split would of course change year after year with the focus slowly shifting towards new equipment. BUT, the biggest bang for the buck would be on training. Munition, spare parts, food, Time for Training, and general supplies. If you can get the military to perform well enough with what they currently have, then they'll excel with newer and more modern equipment. This has been proven unbelievably true with Ukraine. That's the route I would go. But, you are fighting Decades worth of non-violence bureaucracy within the German Government.

[@nvelsen1975]

A lot of money is eaten up by maintaining unnecessary Cold War facilities that are sized in a way that they can accomodate a significant NATO deployment on top of the German deployments. Plus the bureaucracy and kommissars of course, that's unnecessary spending. The German inspector-general is like 20 times the size of ours if I heard correctly and the Bundeswehr most assuredly isn't 20 times bigger.

[@johnreed8336]

And of course the long term ' love affair ' between Angela Merkel and Putin . This certainly helped to destabilise the German military .

[@feedingravens]

No ammunition? I remember when I applied at Diehl near Nürnberg, more than 30 years ago. It would have been about exactly what is needed now: about the electronics for grenades. Not the fire control system something similiar, explicitly the fuse. i had to tell him I understand that it is an interesting technical challenge to build electronics that can survive 1000g, and I am doing my best no be open to the military, but to have to do SOLELY with that what kills, that goes too far. He was pretty pissed. And it was a somewhat eerie mood anyhow, you drove through a typical half-high forest, barbwire on concrete posts left and right, and then came a control post with a soldier stopping you, then asking your contact whether you are expected, and only then letting you on the areal. All that in the middle of this forest, remote from everything. Maybe that would have been normal would I have been at the Bundeswehr, but they were afraid of a guy with a palm-sized piece of plastic in his skull, and so this was somehow an existential experience.

[@ToastyChud]

Hit the nail on the head. Great video and explanations.

[@ralph1125]

Haven't watched this yet, but i'd have to ask, as a german, is it even happening? Besides ordering some F-35s, nothing seems to be going on. If this changes my perception, i'll add once i watched the full clip.

[@revanofkorriban1505]

As a fellow German, (though residing in the USA), I frankly suspect that rearmament will fizzle out as Ukraine continues to humiliate Russia on the battlefield, allowing committees to go, "See, it wasn't necessary after all! Let's focus on the important thing: procedure!" I doubt the will exists to make Germany fulfill its obligations to its allies. I recall hearing that a few years ago there was a poll that found that less than half of Germans were in favor of going to war to help Poland if Russia attacked it. Why die for Danzig amirite. I doubt Germany will come around to being a useful member of NATO for the foreseeable future.

[@ralph1125]

Finished the Vid. Not sure if I missed something, it seems to confirm my observation.

[@Janoip]

FCAS got the Ok for Prototyp 1b Phase cost some Billions, some Multinational Projects got money, would have order more Pumas but after the problems with them its paused. More Leopards get uprade to a7.. More Trucks And some other stuff is going

[@phlogistanjones2722]

You are correct. The Germans "in charge" are doing now what they have done for the last 30+ years and that is Whistling Past The Grave Yard. NO the German government is ***NOT*** going to actually build a defense structure for their own defense and fund it.

[@A_Haunted_Pancake]

@@ralph1125 Well, Thank God for that ! Stand down everybody - Ralph did watch the video.

[@jameslecka8085]

Whatever happened to the arsenal concept- the government directly making weapons and ammo? For profit enterprises don't always meet the needs. If one has massive export sales, well, ok. But sole source to sole user doesn't look good in short term problems. The lack of use also famously conceals defects - such as the problems everyone (pretty much) had with torpedoes.

[@stevenkraft8070]

Hi Chris. Here's a military aviation-related 2022 Bundeswehr ammo blunder. Germany has sent the IRIS-T air defense missile launcher system to Ukraine, and by all accounts it is very effective, when it has IRIS-T missiles to launch. But of course, the system sent to Ukraine is now largely or perhaps completely out of missiles, and getting new IRIS-T missiles sent to Ukraine is an experience that is something like watching grass grow. Meanwhile, 2 or 3 more IRIS-T systems are on order for Ukraine, so in the future (And right now it looks like the war won't end before the end of this summer, and possibly years after that.) the Ukrainians will probably want at least 300% more IRIS-T missiles than the amount they are begging the Bundeswehr for now. I saw that this was actually mentioned in a December 1st Berlin press conference with Olaf Scholz and Jens Stoltenberg. The good(?) news is that Olaf says that Germany is working on it.

[@MrMakabar]

The issue is that the missile the air defence system shoots is the IRIS-T SLM, which is currently only used by Ukraine, which means no stockpiles. The good news is that there is a working production line and according to the German government more missiles were delivered. Additionally Ukraine is going to shoot as many of them as possible, since they seem to be among the best systems they have. So they basicly can not get enough.

[@overlord4404]

Ok seriously, what accounts. I did not manage to find any noteworthy account of these missiles outperforming other weapons ukrainians have, in fact the more I research the more I think that barely anything works. Russians just send a drone or two to bait the systems and then follow up with the real attack. Ukrainians simply dont have a tiered AA system to dea with it

[@ddshiranui]

@@MrMakabar The good news is that Iris-T SLM seems to be compatible with Patriot, in that the two systems can be interlinked for more efficient coverage. Patriot is less reliable/accurate, but has longer range, so Ukraine can implement a doctrine where they try to shoot incoming targets down with Patriot (which should have larger ammunition stocks) first -- and anything that gets past Patriot will be taken out by Iris-T, maintaining 100% defense whilst consuming fewer of the rare missiles.

[@rasmusklitgaard3648]

Have you considered doing a video on the Puma problems?( from a procurement angle)

[@justacanadianguy07]

they nailed rearmament 90 years ago, but are screwing up today? damn.

[@rootbeer4888]

They woke now what you expect.

[@Alpha_Arc]

Almost as if there's processes and guidelines to prevent something like that happening again

[@justacanadianguy07]

@@Alpha_Arc yeah seems like it.

[@asiangaming8409]

Yea now Germany is composed of people wanting to be weak submissive and most of them are furrys

[@jonny2954]

90 years? Germany had the largest ground forces in western Europe during the cold war. WWII wasn't the last time Germany had a large Army. It's 30 years ago, not 90.

[@connorcrowley1]

From a Dutch perspective, which is really similar to the German perspective with an added sense of reliability on the Germans. Europe continues to voluntarily be a military client state of the USA.

[@Terrados1337]

If you think of germany, try imagining it as a human body. The bureaucracy is the colon. It turns everything into shit. Germany has a track record of turning things into shit through bureaucracy since ... charlemagne? Though back then administration was probably a more fitting term. Anyway, the idea is to delegate all work to someone (anyone really) else instead of ever lifting a finger yourself. Ah damn, we need new contracts for artillery ammunition, well too bad I am busy playing Mikado. So I'll put it in the "not my job" bin and someone below me will handle it. This proceeds down the chain until it reaches an intern who will actually get blood eagled if they don't work. They will now send a request to Ammo24/7 for 2million ork buster 3000 artillery shells. It will take 4 weeks to get an answer - via fax, the structure within that company is the same, what did you expect? Now the intern pushes that offer back up the chain by firmly planting his nose up his superiors posterior. All the way up, human centiped style aaaaaaaand ... the offer has expired, france or iran or south sudan bough the shells instead. Aww shucks, now we have to go through all that again and expect a different result! Financially relevant information: 30 people got paid varying wages for 2 months for a job that could have been handled by 2-4 people and an email. Strategically relevant information: DER FEIND took Dresden and is advancing towards Berlin, artillery battalions are still out of ammo. Irrelevant information: Bild introduces another "model" page to quell the peasants outrage. This is of course exaggerated for dramatic/comedic effect. But it is a disease that hampers not only the government but also the economy. There are a lot of hierarchical pyramids were a spreadsheet would not only suffice but be superior. I am not suggesting to seize the memes of production and fight the bourgeoisie in the streets (which is a losing battle anyway). But reformes are necessary at the very foundation. Which will never happen since those who could push those reforms only think in 4 year intervals and those who could pay for such reforms are not effected by the rising levels of manure in the streets (yet). I am aware, you can't really fire 50% of people because they are performing shell jobs that haven't been productive since the 60s, that would crash the economics corpse even more. I am not smart enough for stuff like that. But I can spot stinky undocumented legacy code and Germany is currently running Windows ME. Don't misinterpret my ramblings as endorsement of some political party or movement. IMO, they all suck and are strictly operating for personal gain. That's just human nature (which is depressing). I could rant more but that's bad for my coffee addiction :| nice video @MHA

[@fredmidtgaard5487]

One of the world's largest ammo producers (no 4), Norwegian Nammo, has offered to double its production of handgun ammo and cannon ammo, but would need a guarantee that the buyers will actually buy after the new machines for production have been bought and installed. All machines now go for 100%. They needed a 100 million Euro guarantee but no one wanted to give that, so...

[@Zzrik]

The main problem is that they rely too much on the US to supply them with ammo, i don't think Germany ever planned that far ahead in terms of re arment and actually producing it's own ammo in quantites that it needs rather than wait for the US to hand them some ammo. The biggest draw back with NATO is that almost all countries of that alliance uses the same equipment wich is good but also bad because if the US decides to stop any export of ammunition to its members then tough luck.

[@carlpolen7437]

You.... are completely wrong. I'm sorry but you are. First, "almost all countries of that alliance uses the same equipment"? Where did you get this idea? Europe is NOTORIOUSLY fractured and heterogeneous in terms of military equipment and procurment. In fact pretty much the ONLY thing common across all nato coutries is caliber of certain guns, from small to howitzer. 5.56 for rifles and 7.62 for machine guns to 155mm for lager howitzers. Pretty much EVERY thing else is different within European countries. Different tanks. Different APC's. Different Jets. Different destroyers. Different SAM's. Different Uniforms. Second... Europe has its own ammunition factories. Truly, where did you get the idea that the US supplies ammunition to Europe? Perhaps sometimes certain European countries buy certain things from the US, but France, Poland, Czechia, the UK etc etc etc all have their own production facilties. So, with respect, you are pretty much dead wrong about everything you said. In fact, the US has been BEGGING European countries to beef up their defense spending and capabilitiess for well over a decade. So... yeah. Might want to actually research your opinions a bit more for factual evidence.

[@whya2ndaccount]

There needs to be a balance between agile, reactive, shoot from the hip procurement and the ability to satisfy governance requirements. No one wants to sit in front of a Government committee explaining that $X were spent based on an email in order to fix an issue rapidly. Committees like reams and reams of paper to justify the expenditure of taxpayer's money.

[@michaeldonnelly6747]

Albert Speer is rolling over in his grave

[@MatthewLungerhausen]

Hmm. Reading between the lines that memo from the finance ministry to the defense ministry seemed to be throwing some major shade. It’s also interesting that it happened at the civil servant level rather than as an exchange between cabinet members.

[@tanitatt]

Remember when a US President told Germany that they needed to increase their own defense spending, and everyone was like ... "Whatever" ...

[@Theywaswrong]

Typical conversation was like this: "Trump tried to bully Europe and threatened to leave NATO" And why was that, what was the problem. "Trump wants to run the World, wanted to tell Europe how to run things" OK, but what exactly was causing the problem, what was Trump wanting them to do. "Yeah I know you're a big Trumper fascist. You know he was being an arse and sticking his nose in their business". Well, no, I'm just trying to find out what it was all about. Did it have anything to do with none of the NATO members fulfilling their agreement to keep their contributions up? "Oh, he wanted to run NATO. But you being a fascist you don't want to hear it". Well I haven't heard anything yet. Nothing specific. Just calling me names. Was it that Trump wanted the US to stop funding NATO to around 70% of it's budget while the twenty something other members ignored the problem? "Look Trumper, you don't want to hear the truth. I keep telling you and you ignore it. Go F yourself". Oh, fine. I was just waiting for you to fill me in on the problem but you apparently have no clue, but nice parroting of a general political narrative. Goodbye.

[@altemzwo8390]

To me, a big question is what needs to be done to get higher readiness for the equipment we have. The issues with the Puma are high profile, but if you go through it, the readyness numbers are atrocious for pretty much every single large system - at least they look atrocious to me as a non-expert. So where would we need to invest to change this? Repair parts? Repair capacity? Streamlining the bureaucracy? All of the above? I don't have a clue personally, but I'll be surprised if buying new stuff is going to do much to change this, and I don't see a lot of broad-picture commentary about this situration, only specific ones about the Puma, but the situation for Leopard 2, Pzh or Eurofigher isn't great either, and I've read about all submarines waiting for repairs simultaneously not too long ago.

[@spartanonxy]

Parts tend to be a bigger factor in readiness then then capacity at least for immediate future events. Over long run or in high intensity situations it changes a fair bit.

[@ramona14220]

Irony is Poland defending Germany from the Russians.

[@laisphinto6372]

for now after that poland rolls in to Berlin

[@HedgehogZone]

Meh poland is buying second grade korean tanks. Thoss are not worth a damn and everybody knows it. The german marine can destroy most of poland alone. Nobody is scarred of one of the weakeast armies in europe and yes poland is very weak!

[@ShinobiHOG]

Great video! I'm following this issue closely.....

[@fighterpilot5105]

Paper army...

[@AlexJones-ex8ox]

We can’t have them starting anymore world wars lol

[@FortuneZer0]

The prefered state tbh.

[@wylnd]

At least not as paper as the Chinese. You can have as much ammo as you want but it doesn't give you anything if your troops are untrained baffoons

[@EllenbergW]

Well, there _is_ this old joke "The role of the Bundeswehr is to stop the enemy long enough for military to arrive"

[@HappyDuude]

Appreciate you confirming everything we know about KZbin comments

[@þþþþþþþþþ]

0:13 --- WHOA... they really upgunned that 38t...

[@natopeacekeeper97]

You'd think a full scale war going on almost on their doorstep would MOTIVATE them to get off their bureaucratic butts and expedite getting the ammo restocked.

[@warcrimeconnoisseur5238]

Why should we? We have the US that loves to die in war and Poland aswell as France

[@kentnilsson465]

I know that Sweden has ordered more Patriots and trucks(military)for logistics as well as new torpedoes. The topic is important as ammunitions stocks are very low in the west and the production capacity is not up to needs, not even in the US. The problem is that ammo and logistical procurment in not as sexy, for top brass or politicians, as F-35s and MICV. But what do you do with 35 F-35s if you cant arm them more than twice?

[@Jakob_DK]

Well it would be pretty good if any of the planes return to be rearmed…. Yes there should be more bombs

[@yeetsalittle]

Sounds like Germany is just gonna buy a lot of fancy equipment that theyll just let collect dust because they wont have the munitions to train with

[@blegi1245]

Sole purpose of german ministry of defense is to provide corporate welfare to german industry. No one is concerned about actual capability.

[@timandsuzidickey9358]

BUT.... A GREAT Update ... Thanks.... That Can't be EZ !!