German air force in catastrophic disrepair – report

[Rushil51]

The German Air Force is in a slump with terrible funding shortages and a lack of parts, as a pessimistic report by Der Spiegel blasts it ahead of a major NATO deployment in Eastern Europe. Defense officials, however, blasted the assessment as inaccurate.

The damning report comes on the eve of NATO making big plans for edging its combined military might closer to Russia. The analysis by Der Spiegel has already caused much concern among Germany's defense community.

The confidential document was reported on in the magazine's new issue. It calls into question further strategies by Germany to take part in NATO activities in 2015.

Proponents of the view feel that with the EU taking on one of the leading roles in providing the world with some stability in these difficult times, Germany's predicament as a leading military player is a matter of great concern.

Official figures put the German Air Force at fourth in the alliance. Not true, Der Spiegel says, alluding to the country's poor state of aircraft and the embarrassing fact of having to borrow spare parts from existing planes.

With NATO concentrating more forces in the Baltic, the Germans were supposed to send six planes there next week. But Germany, NATO's second strongest member, remains uncommitted to the expansion plans (seen by some as resulting also from Berlin's worsening ties with Washington).

Under the pretext of an "overt" Russian threat, the alliance is pushing for a "readiness action plan" that will bring the Cold War military bloc closer to Russian borders than ever – despite objections from a number of NATO members.

Also noteworthy is the fact that under the alliance's agreement, each member is to spend 2 percent of its GDP on defense. Germany, however, spends only 1.3 percent, and is planning to reduce that further.

The helicopter division is also in bad disrepair: only seven of the 67 CH-53 transport helicopters are in top condition – that includes those currently used in Afghanistan. A similar fate befell another model.

Cargo planes have also made it into the report's statistics: under half of the 56 C-160s are functioning correctly.

Lashing out at Der Spiegel, the military claimed the magazine had misinterpreted the report on the state of the Air Force, which lists, among other things, aircraft requiring routine maintenance – a fact Der Spiegel apparently mistook as meaning they were inoperable.

Defense officials believe the report also doesn't match the official logs and that certain parts of the classified document are an internal matter. Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen's spokesperson declined to comment further, but did say the troops were "well-equipped."

Although Germany plans to make the aforementioned cuts to its defense budget, allies are actually calling for a more active engagement militarily. Von der Leyen agrees with the calls.

"Indifference is not an option for a country like Germany"¦ it is almost doomed to take on more responsibility," she said. But although she and Chancellor Angela Merkel are seen as similar in many ways, the chancellor is not likely to back this push in the upcoming defense budget of 2015.

It remains to be seen also if the current strategy of Von der Leyen's for boosting enrolment into the military services will work: the navy, Der Spiegel says, is still 1,400 short of personnel.

Source- http://rt.com/news/183120-germany-air-force-military/

 

[HMS Astute]

This is something that the Indian Air Force should learn before it purchases the aircraft which are costly to operate and maintain.

 

[ninja85]

This is something that the Indian Air Force should learn before it purchases the aircraft which are costly to operate and maintain.

india is 'not just buying' the planes,

its transfer of tech in mmrca deal with french to make them in india and equal collaboration with russia in cost of designing and manufacturing in fgfa deal.

 

[HMS Astute]

india is 'not just buying' the planes,

its transfer of tech in mmrca deal with french to make them in india and equal collaboration with russia in cost of designing and manufacturing in fgfa deal.

I am just saying any country should be aware of the high operating and maintenance costs before they get expensive aircraft which costs too much even to stay in the air for an hour. Yes, India is buying expensive aircraft whether the aircraft will be built in India or not, you are still paying the money to foreign defence contractor and buying their techs and planes. Bare in mind, Germany military budget is bigger than India although it maintains very small fleets and troops.

 

[ninja85]

I am just saying any country should be aware of the high operating and maintenance costs before they get expensive aircraft which costs too much even to stay in the air for an hour. Yes, India is buying expensive aircraft whether the aircraft will be built in India or not, you are still paying the money to foreign defence contractor and buying their techs and planes. Bare in mind, Germany military budget is bigger than India although it maintains very small fleets and troops.

you are only talking about the mmrca deal in which india is just buying but as i said in fgfa its equal collaboration in making the plane it means russia is also spending equal amount same as india,

their is no other way to give indian military a leading edge in short time possible because india lost its almost 70 years in corrupt congress regime and also corrupt congress could return in future.

 

[HMS Astute]

you are only talking about the mmrca deal in which india is just buying but as i said in fgfa its equal collaboration in making the plane it means russia is also spending equal amount same as india,

their is no other way to give indian military a leading edge in short time possible because india lost its almost 70 years in corrupt congress regime and also corrupt congress could return in future.

Equal collaboration my ass. Russia does not even allow the Indian pilots to fly and test this new aircraft in Russia.
And all these aircraft are kept only in Mother Russia which does not seem like an equal collaboration to me.
India should stop being Russia's puppet. Cancel the deal, say f off to Putin and spend that money on 100% Indian owned local projects.

 

[ninja85]

Equal collaboration my ass. Russia does not even allow the Indian pilots to fly and test this new aircraft in Russia.
And all these aircraft are kept only in Mother Russia which does not seem like an equal collaboration to me.
India should stop being Russia's puppet. Cancel the deal, say f off to Putin and spend that money on 100% Indian owned local projects.

and you know this how?

did your ass told you this???

is that where you get your information???

indian government already paid them billions of dollars in collaboration,
that kind of money is not joke,

you think you are clever than whole indian government that we just pay them and russians will take money and say fck you to india and we do nothing,


but any way just in case what you say is the real thing deal is gonna get scrap anyway.

 

[Anoop Sajwan]

Equal collaboration my ass. Russia does not even allow the Indian pilots to fly and test this new aircraft in Russia.
And all these aircraft are kept only in Mother Russia which does not seem like an equal collaboration to me.
India should stop being Russia's puppet. Cancel the deal, say f off to Putin and spend that money on 100% Indian owned local projects.

It is still better than what you got in Lighting deal.

 

[HMS Astute]

It is still better than what you got in Lighting deal.

Stop being so emotional. F-35 is not an equal collaboration between US and UK. It is a gigantic project solely led by the only main customer US itself and other international participants are just a bonus to the a trillion dollar programme. However, as the UK is being a level 1 partner, our giant defence contractors like the BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce and others etc have the chances to manufacture several parts of the F-35 aircraft, including the aft fuselage, tails, refuelling probes, the ejection seat, electrical power management system, the remote input/output unit, standby flight display, and the backshop battery charger, power thermal management system, life support system, avionics, safety and lift systems, lasers for Electro Optical Targeting System, Ultra Electronics with suspension release equipment, the weapons bay door drive system, utilities actuation and uplock components, Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missile (ASRAAM) system, components for the weapons load trainer system etc.

 

[p2prada]

I am just saying any country should be aware of the high operating and maintenance costs before they get expensive aircraft which costs too much even to stay in the air for an hour.

If we go by western reports, a Flanker costs twice as much as a Rafale when it comes to maintenance. We are doing well.

Mirage-2000 and Mig-29 should be more expensive to maintain than Rafale or Typhoon.

Yes, India is buying expensive aircraft whether the aircraft will be built in India or not, you are still paying the money to foreign defence contractor and buying their techs and planes.

Not a lot of it will leave the country. And the amount that will leave, half of that will be re-invested back into India, so we are good.

Bare in mind, Germany military budget is bigger than India although it maintains very small fleets and troops.

The German military budget is smaller than India's.