Re-arming the Bundeswehr: Which Projects?

asiatimes.com

German subs using Russian nav systems: report - Asia Times

In a report which will likely horrify its NATO allies, German daily Bild has revealed that German submarines are equipped with Russian navigation systems.
asiatimes.com asiatimes.com

In a report which will likely horrify its NATO allies, German daily Bild has revealed that German submarines are equipped with Russian navigation systems.
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In 2005, under then-Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, around 100 German navy ships were equipped with new navigation systems from Russian company Transas, a company founded in St. Petersburg in 1990.

Later, the German government decided in favor of Transas and, according to Bild, installed the Navi Sailor 4100 (navigation device for position, speed, route) in the most modern German submarines U-35 (in operation since 2015) and U-36 ( since 2016).

Transas also equipped the Russian fleet with combat simulators and even got an award from Gen. Nikolai Makarov, chief of the Russian General Staff in 2007-2012.

In 2018 the company was bought by Finnish company Wartsila, but the armaments division remained in Russian hands.

Former Transas engineers are now developing combat drones for the Russian military. Because of its close ties to the Russian security apparatus, this part of Transas is in the focus of Western intelligence services, according to security experts.

The Bild report claims that the system’s data encryption does not comply with military security standards, in an apparent reference to NATO, of which Germany is a member.

“During a worst-case cyberattack, navigation data could be hacked and the ship could fully lose operability,” Bild quoted an unnamed officer as saying.

The report also pointed out that Russia sometimes carries out naval maneuvers close to Germany’s Baltic Sea coastline.

Tobias Lindner, the top Bundestag representative for the opposition Greens on the German parliament’s defense committee, voiced alarm following Bild’s report.

“The Bundeswehr must ensure that the navy’s navigation software does not represent a security leak. The ministry must quickly explain why software from a manufacturer in NATO countries is not being used,” Lindner said.
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Grey Havoc said:
www.defensenews.com

France offers Germany four Atlantic 2 maritime patrol aircraft

The French Armed Forces Ministry has offered four Breguet Atlantic 2 planes to plug a looming gap in the German Navy’s anti-submarine capabilities, provided that Berlin springs for modernizing the planes.
www.defensenews.com www.defensenews.com
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Crap, as if France had a lot of Atlantic 2 to share / sold / dump... (incoming @TomcatViP in 3...2...1...)
The fleet is quite old and has been cut to the bone along the years...
 
Given that Britain is seriously ready to let go their Herc, if used their choice had to be, the German Navy should rather buy some of those airframe and fit them with rolled-on MPA kit as well as Air-launched effectors.

@Archibald : Let see what's the outcome will be first.
 
www.naval-technology.com

TKMS to build six Type 212CD submarines for Germany and Norway

thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) has been commissioned to construct six new Type 212 Common Design (CD) submarines for the Norwegian and German Navies.
www.naval-technology.com www.naval-technology.com

www.navalnews.com

Kongsberg Inks 212CD Submarine Combat System And Naval Strike Missile Deals - Naval News

Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace AS (KONGSBERG) has entered into contracts with Norway and Germany to deliver ORCCA™ combat system elements to the six new 212CD submarines, and the Naval Strike Missile to the two nations’ Navies.
www.navalnews.com www.navalnews.com
 
www.defensenews.com

Germany establishes new military space command

The German military has announced the creation of a separate command dedicated to space, becoming the latest of a handful of nations prioritizing more resources and missions among the stars.
www.defensenews.com www.defensenews.com

Don't have time at the moment, but I think I will set up a dedicated thread for this later, similar to those for the French and British space commands.
 
Are their VLS cells only good for Sea Sparrow, or are SM-2s another possibility?
 
This thread might get more interesting after the German elections.
There is a massive potential shopping list for the Bundeswehr to make good years of neglect.
If France wants to be serious about Defence it will need to be part of this procurement.
Sadly the UK is pretty much out of the picture.
 
muttbutt said:
The German army will introduce a new variant of the Boxer armed with a 30mm gun and MELLS ATGWS from 2025.

www.bundeswehr.de

Symposium Infanterie in Hammelburg

Das Führungs- und Lehrpersonal der Infanterie berät über Neuerungen in der Ausbildung und Ausstattung des Heeres.
www.bundeswehr.de www.bundeswehr.de
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Give them the same Lance Turret as the Australian Boxer CRVs:

2880px-Boxer_Land_400.jpg
 
It will be interesting to see how the EU develops its approach to Defence untrammeled by the Brits.
Macron claims to want an EU wide approach so it will be fun to watch how he reconciles this with the new German Government.
 
And how does talk of EU Arms Export Policies align with the thread topic of "Re-arming the Bundeswehr"?
 
GTX said:
muttbutt said:
The German army will introduce a new variant of the Boxer armed with a 30mm gun and MELLS ATGWS from 2025.

www.bundeswehr.de

Symposium Infanterie in Hammelburg

Das Führungs- und Lehrpersonal der Infanterie berät über Neuerungen in der Ausbildung und Ausstattung des Heeres.
www.bundeswehr.de www.bundeswehr.de
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Give them the same Lance Turret as the Australian Boxer CRVs:

2880px-Boxer_Land_400.jpg
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Shame the Dutch Boxers where not fitted with this, now they are nothing more than armored Volkswagens.
 
Hood said:
This seems like a turning point, how long the political desire to fulfil this will remain is speculative like all political decisions, but it could be important in the medium-term.
https://www.bloombergquint.com/poli...ny-to-create-special-eu100b-armed-forces-fund

I'd be surprised if this doesn't lead to firm commitment to FCAS and/or F-35s.
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FCAS is longer term need, but over a decade is way to late. F-35 is an immediate need. If you're spending that much you should do both.

Readiness, availability rates, and maintenance are "get it done right now, faster, faster!" critical needs. And while you're at it, having to return equipment to the manufacturer just makes a manufacturer like Airbus a nice big, fat, juicy target for cruise missiles. Maintenance needs to be devolved back to units a much as possible, factories need to be hardened, protected, and have plans and material for back up production prepared.
 
This kind of increases to budgets makes options like more Typhoons, F-18G and F-35A as relatively immediate Tornado (ECR and IDS variants) and very early Typhoon replacements plus FCAS as the longer term Typhoon-replacement platform becomes far more thinkable/ plausible.

But other contributors are also correct, the defence spending would also very much need to go at building up the logistics and support aspects of Germany’s armed forces and not all shiny new systems.
 
Militaryhistorynow on youtube's read was Typhoon ECR and F-35 (for nuclear sharing role) were both being greenlit. I haven't seen any confirmation though.
 
F35, Typhoon ECR, Typhoon development, cooperation with France on future tank and future combat aircraft - that was all in Bundeskanzler Scholz speech on Sunday. I pasted link in German Defence budget Military section.
 
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Well, urgently*:
1. Growler
2. EVEN MORE Growler
3. F-35
4. Something to transform European armies from small feet to a seven league boots (Aka heavy cargo lifter)
5. FCAS
6. More FCAS

*Germans focused only
 
From Scholz's statement:
  • And with regard to nuclear sharing, we will procure a modern replacement for the outdated Tornado jets in good time.
The Eurofighter is set to be equipped with electronic warfare capabilities.

The F-35 fighter jet has the potential to be used as a carrier aircraft.
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This stops as short as possible from stating outright the intent to buy.
F-35 to be used from carriers? That points to use in an expeditionary force.
 
F-35 from carriers? Whose carriers? The CdG? or French Mistrals? Would seem logistically problematic. Forming a joint force with Italy's F-35s and amphib carriers seems a closer match. It could be that Germany is planning its own Mistral-type ships in the longer-term.

The last paragraph of the German Army chief's message is also very interesting; Afghanistan lessons and kit out - back to the good old days of prepping for peer vs peer mechanised combat. NATO as a whole might have to make some realignment, for example Russia has lost more thanks already than the entire planned British Challenger 3 fleet!

Another thought, a lot of manportable missiles are heading to the Ukraine so presumably NATO nations are going to be putting in extra orders soon to replenish their stocks (lead times and all that)?
 
Can their industries satisfy such orders in anything resembling a timely manner, though?
 
Arjen said:
From Scholz's statement:
The F-35 fighter jet has the potential to be used as a carrier aircraft.
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This stops as short as possible from stating outright the intent to buy.
F-35 to be used from carriers? That points to use in an expeditionary force.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it is an intriguing tease. I would presume they are talking to F-135Bs which would give all sorts of options - USMC, Royal Navy, Marine Nationale, Armada Española, Marina Militare or even Türk Deniz Kuvvetleri theoretically. Or there even a chance of Deutsche Marine?? They would also theoretically provide non-ship based options away from airbases...

It could also refer to F-35C variants though I seriously doubt it.
 
I would guess F-35B. Offers better prospects for dispersed basing than the F-35C. Not sure about the price tag of the F-35C, or if there's any sense at all in choosing a CATOBAR fighter without a German CATOBAR carrier.
 
I’ll defer to actual German speakers (rather than my limited grasp) who watched the actual speech live - from reading the English language transcript I’ve seen - if the line about F-35 carriers was swapped with the line before it would make more sense as a reference to the F-35 being the carrier of the B-61s.
I may be off base though, perhaps Germany has carrier aviation ambitions but that would appear to be an counter intuitive reaction to increased Russian threat (perhaps potential concern of US Navy carrier aviation assets availability in the European theatre going forward?).
 
Also of interest is how the F-35 was mentioned but that the Super Hornet was not...

EDIT: I am going to do some checking with some contacts since I know that the USN was working towards a future FMS buy by Germany of Super Hornets.
 
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