Germany overhauls military command in quest for ‘war-capable’ force

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s defense minister on Thursday announced a plan to streamline and reorganize the country’s military command as part of efforts to make the armed forces of NATO’s most populous European member “war-capable.”

Chancellor Olaf Scholz set in motion a big increase in military spending shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, which he described as a “ turning point .” Defense Minister Boris Pistorius last year took on the job of overhauling the military, the Bundeswehr, after years of neglect and in November called for a review of its structure.

Pistorius has pointed to the danger of a possible future Russian attack on a NATO country and said repeatedly that the German military must become “war-capable,” a choice of words that some in Germany find jarring given the country’s longstanding post-World War II culture of military caution.

“I am convinced it is one of the few words that really describes correctly the imperative here,” he told reporters in Berlin. “I respect the fact that others struggle with the word, but I also note that most who do have no problem with the substance behind it.”

His overhaul plan envisions a single “operational military command,” which he hopes will enable quick decisions and eliminate duplication. Currently, the Bundeswehr has two command centers: one responsible for planning and running deployments abroad and the other for the defense of Germany itself.

An existing “cyber and information” department, whose responsibilities include fending off cyberattacks, protecting electronic infrastructure and analyzing hybrid threats such as disinformation, will be expanded and officially become a fourth arm of the military alongside the army, air force and navy.

Speaking on NATO’s 75th anniversary, Pistorius underlined “the challenge of resetting the Bundeswehr for a new and old challenge — that of defending the country and the alliance.”

In 2022, Scholz pledged to increase Germany’s defense spending to a NATO target of 2% of gross domestic product — a mark that, along with several other countries, it had long fallen short of — and set up a 100 billion-euro ($108 billion euro) special fund to modernize the Bundeswehr.

“We have (spending of) 2% this year and we will reach it in the coming years as well, but also must reach it so that we can do justice to our responsibility and our role in NATO,” Pistorius said.

Details of how Germany will reach the 2% mark once the special military fund is exhausted, likely in 2027, remain unclear. And although progress is being made with orders for new equipment, the parliamentary commissioner for the military said last month that the Bundeswehr “still has too little of everything.”

柏林（美联社）——德国国防部长周四宣布了一项计划，旨在精简和重组该国的军事指挥机构，以使北约人口最多的欧洲成员国的武装部队具备“作战能力”。

在俄罗斯于2022年初全面入侵乌克兰后不久，德国总理奥拉夫·朔尔茨便启动了大幅增加军费开支的计划，他称之为“转折点”。国防部长鲍里斯·皮斯托瑞斯去年接手了德国联邦国防军的改革工作，此前该军种多年来一直被忽视。去年11月，皮斯托瑞斯呼吁对其结构进行审查。

皮斯托瑞斯指出俄罗斯未来可能对北约国家发动袭击的危险，并反复表示德国军队必须具备“战争能力”。考虑到德国在二战后长期奉行的谨慎军事文化，这种措辞让一些德国人感到不安。

“我确信这是少数几个真正能准确描述此处必要性的词语之一，”他在柏林告诉记者。“我尊重其他人对这个词感到困惑的事实，但我也注意到，大多数感到困惑的人对它背后的实质内容并没有异议。”

他的改革计划设想建立一个单一的“作战军事指挥部”，他希望这将有助于快速决策并消除重复工作。目前，德国联邦国防军有两个指挥中心：一个负责规划和执行海外部署，另一个负责德国本土的防御。

现有的“网络与信息”部门（其职责包括抵御网络攻击、保护电子基础设施以及分析虚假信息等混合威胁）将得到扩充，并正式成为与陆军、空军和海军并列的第四个军种。

在北约成立 75 周年之际，皮斯托瑞斯强调了“重新调整德国联邦国防军以应对新的和旧的挑战——保卫国家和联盟”这一挑战。

2022 年，朔尔茨承诺将德国的国防开支提高到北约设定的国内生产总值 2% 的目标——德国和其他几个国家长期以来都未能达到这一目标——并设立了一个 1000 亿欧元（1080 亿美元）的专项基金，用于德国联邦国防军的现代化。

皮斯托瑞斯说：“我们今年的（支出）目标是2%，未来几年我们也会达到这个目标，但我们必须达到这个目标，才能不辜负我们在北约的责任和作用。”

德国在专项军事基金耗尽后（预计在2027年）如何达到2%的军费开支目标，目前尚不清楚。尽管新装备的订购工作正在取得进展，但议会军事事务专员上个月表示，德国联邦国防军“在各方面仍然严重不足”。