Germany unveils first ever military strategy for Bundeswehr

The German Bundeswehr has for the first time officially adopted a military strategy, citing an increasingly dangerous international situation. The strategy defines the future focus of the German armed forces and analyzes how the Bundeswehr can counter potential threats.

"Rarely has a military strategy been as necessary as it is in this historic period," Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said during the presentation of the new strategy in Berlin.

The world has become more unpredictable and also more dangerous, the Social Democrat politician said, ever since Russia launched its war against Ukraine and the international legal order has come under tremendous pressure.

Most of strategy remains classified

According to the military strategy, Russia represents "the greatest and most immediate threat for the foreseeable future" to Germany and transatlantic security: "Russia is laying the groundwork for a military attack on NATO member states."

The document then goes on to analyze how the Bundeswehr should respond to potential war scenarios, such as a Russian attack on NATO territory, though the details are classified. "It goes without saying that we cannot make these scenarios public. Otherwise, we might as well add Vladimir Putin to our mailing list," Pistorius said.

Military personnel appear to play a key role. The military strategy reaffirms the previously stated goal of significantly expanding the Bundeswehr to have a total of 460,000 soldiers ready by the mid-2030s, 200,000 of whom would be in the reserves. The stated goal is to develop the Bundeswehr into Europe's strongest conventional army — with the fastest possible growth by 2029 to increase defense readiness.

These developments follow NATO's increased demands on its members regarding alliance defense. Recruiting sufficient personnel is the greatest challenge, Pistorius acknowledged at a Bundeswehr conference in November.

Germany looks at conscription to boost military numbers

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Bundeswehr hopes military service program will boost recruitment

Thanks to intensive recruitment efforts, the Bundeswehr is growing, albeit slowly. At the end of March, the force had around 185,400 active-duty soldiers, 3,300 more than in March of the previous year.

Pistorius apparently has high hopes for the new military service plan introduced at the beginning of the year. Through a combination of incentives and compulsory measures — including mandatory military screening for all young men — the Bundeswehr aims to recruit more voluntary soldiers.

If this effort fails, military conscription, which Germany suspended in 2011, could be reinstated. But that is not currently on the agenda, emphasized State Secretary for Defense Nils Hilmer during the presentation of the military strategy. "We are on track," he said.

New 'comprehensive concept'

In addition to the military strategy, Pistorius presented several policy documents:

A so-called "capability profile" outlines the capabilities considered indispensable for the armed forces — in other words, what is required for national defense, but also "for deterrence and defense of the alliance," meaning NATO.

The "reserve strategy," meanwhile, is intended to ensure that by 2033 Germany will have some 200,000 reservists ready — serving as a "link between the military and civil society." Their tasks will primarily involve homeland security and logistics.

The details of these two documents are also largely classified.

Hundreds of measures to combat bureaucracy

The so-called "plan for debureaucratization and modernization" aims to tackle excessive bureaucracy in the Bundeswehr stuctures. At the moment, service members must navigate a multitude of detailed regulations and paperwork.

The Defense Ministry has reviewed the regulations and plans to remedy the situation — with some 153 measures and 580 concrete implementation steps.

"All internal regulations will have a fixed expiration date," Pistorius announced. If they are no longer deemed necessary after that date, they will automatically be eliminated. In the future, a "Bundeswehr Wallet" — a digital wallet — will contain all important personal documents for every member of the Bundeswehr.

More flexibility

For all documents presented for the Bundeswehr, no fixed goals will be set for a specific number of years; instead, documents may be continually adapted as "living documents" — depending on how the strategic situation develops.

With this new strategy, the Bundeswehr is committing itself to greater flexibility than ever before and, in a sense, to a new mindset. "We want to move away from the traditional silo mentality," Pistorius said.

As for what the political opposition thinks, Ulrich Thoden, defense spokesperson for the socialist Left Party, called the military strategy "logical and necessary in light of the real threat posed by Russia's aggressive actions." What's not necessary, in his view, is for Germany to "aim to become a major military power."

This article was originally written in German.