American Reacts The German Military will become Europe's most powerful - Here is Why

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#military
#europe
#mostpowerful
#eu
#nato
#politics
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[jenson]

As somebody who is in the German Army, I can tell that it's not too bad!

German Equipment is considered unusable when for example a tank has a scratch, because Germans want to be perfect in everything.

[tenrh]

The "only 50% operational" comes from german standards. Things are not considered as operational in our army if one light doesnt work or is a bit flawed. In other countries those vehicles would still count as "operational" but here every flaw instantly makes it not "operational" in the statistics

[GiuseppeLeopizzi]

Restrictions? We are in 2022, not 1922.
Germany is a NATO member and is the country with the most NATO / US bases in Europe. mah.

[johnp]

The Bundeswehr were alway very efficient and professional. I had friends in the German Army and I worked closely with the Luftwaffe at Rheine in NRW when I was on an RAF cross-servicing team in the nineties. Re-unification cost a lot, how else would you pay for it? Don't think its incompetence so much from the Bundeswehr. Because much of their equipment is ageing, lacking spares and due replacement, it costs an exorbitant amount to keep it serviceable, plus the loss of experienced personnel! We had a similar problem in the late eighties keeping the Lightning aircraft airworthy, amongst other things. And, all three forces believe they should be the priority!

[shakya]

What restrictions are you talking about for Germany ? We are not at the end of WW1 or WW2. Germany is a NATO member and the US has constantly pushed them to level up and reach the 2% NATO goal in order to have a powerful army.

[modtec]

No "Restricitons" here, only bad politics and NPT. And remember: the NPT is basically self-imposed. Germany absolutely has the capabilities to arm itself with nukes within half a year, if it REALLY wanted to (eg. Russia, after beating Ukraine, starting aggressions against Moldova and Romania. ANY Country that has nuclear reactors is, in principle, able to construct nukes. If they also have any domestic rocket or airplane manufacturer, you can get to mid-ranged nuclear missiles relatively easy. Which btw makes the whole North Korea stuff pretty darn hilarious if you ask me. How an entire country committed to the task took as long as they did to get where their nuke and rocket program is, is kind of peculiar. On the other hand, they are under a lot of embargos.

What I REALLY do not get about that chart at around 8:00 is, why it only considers "Destroyers" an U-boats as part of the navy. Germany relies on self-developed corvettes and frigates, with part of their frigates being built to fulfill the role of destroyers while being smaller than other NATO-members' vessels fulfilling the same role.

The "not straight shooting" service rifle stuff mentioned at the start was, by my estimation, absolutely ridiculous, and while I do not personally know a lot of soldiers, the guys from my school days who went into the military I still occasionally meet will tell you that the rifle was fine.

German helis and aircraft are imo where the REAL embarrassment is to be found.

[jayhellyer]

There are no restrictions on the German military. Japans restrictions are self imposed and have now been overturned which is why they have 2 carriers that operate F35s.

[marcusfranconium]

Well there is one factor that is missing, EU intergration of units . Germany has close ties to the Netherlands , many of the armoured vehicles and ships have been joined ventures. Even now a dutch ship builder won the tender as head contractor of a new 10.000 ton frigate Using state of the art dutch radar and combat management systems, Dutch troops are integrated in to german tank batalions, where german sea batalion is beeing integrated in to the dutch navy. even sharing a JSS combat suport ship with the german navy .
The Benelux is also cooperating with a singel command structure for airforce and navy assets. with germany procuring new JSF aircraft there would be no suprise if they teamed up with the benelux as they already have a joint procurement and logistics in place.

Simular integrations have been going on as well with belgium and france . france and italy . the core six nations of the EU are higly cooperative and integrating each others reasourses plus specialised equipment.

An EU military is not far away .

[steven]

5:39 What Military restrictions? We are not in the post WW1 era when Germany was only allowed to have a standing army of 100.000 men. The only restriction that exists is that nuclear weapons are a no go for Germany, and that's it.

[thewizard]

German „not operational“ is Americas „not perfect, but close enough“

[lukasj]

German here: there are no real restrictions, incompetence, naive pacifism and bureaucracy are the main problems

[klaxonklaxon]

If Germany increases it's military strength then so will France and UK. Somethings never change

[cyrus]

If ww3 happens
Gonna be weird having Germany on the Ally side
That's some serious character development

[Nelevita]

As a German how can explain somethings within the millitary. 1/3 of the Operational say for instant tanks as an exampel are fully functiont.1/3 are in maintenence for repairs and 1/3 are in the industry for upgrades. the "operational" means everything works, if someone say 1 lamp in a cockpit is defect its not operational in peacetime, they can be used to defence they are not broken. but to discuss that wider then i need a lot more time and words whats wrong with the german millitary from outside.

[sjardgrieger]

In Germany, a tank does not count as ready for action if it is just missing a small item, such as a shovel. So it doesn't mean he can't fight

[TheNismo]

What we mostlikely going to see is, Germany becomes a mighty military. Same is going on with Finland, we are working on to build up well enough so eastern neighbour wont even think about bothering us. :)

[Gilder-von-Schattenkreuz]

Funny enough. The whole thing about the German Army Equipment being Desolate is mostly due to Peacetime Regulations.
This comes from 3 Big Factors.

1.
Even Minor Defects result in Equipment being considered Unusable and thus being Send for Repairs.
For example. A Combat Helicopter had a small Leakage in the Hydrauliks which would have meant the Hydrauliks would have Malfunctioned after about 30 Hours of Usage.
Meaning the Helicopter could still be used perfectly fine in Combat without any Problems. But this is not up to Regulation. So its Grounded.
This of course would be Ignored Immediately in any Wartime Scenario as a Frigging Mechanic would simply refill the Hydrauliks every Mission making sure the 30 Hours are never Reached.
And this kind of thing is insanely common. Any Minor Defect anything no longer passing Tight Security Checks is Grounded and Send for Repair.
More than Half of this would likely be either be Ignored entirely in a War. Or would simply be Patched over with Makeshift Repairs on the Spot.
2.
Cheap Civillian Repairs are Prioritized.
Basicly. Instead of having the own Personnel Repair the stuff Quickly. It is Send to a Private Contractor to be Repaired and Returned in like 6 Months.
This is much Cheaper because the Civillian Contractor has a Designated Team that basicly keeps Working through the Orders one by one in their Workshop with Workers doing the normal 8 hours per day 5 days a week with no Extra Payments for Late and Night Shifts or Weekend Work etc etc.
Always maintaining Rigid Control and Paperwork.
But also means that these Vehicles are often gone for Weeks, Months or even Years. Because they just work through the Orders.
In a Wartime Scenario this would never happen. Both Civillian and Military Mechanics would Work in Shifts 24/7 to get stuff back in Action as fast as Possible.
3.
And then there is exactly that Rigid Control and Paperwork. Everything is Documented and has to be Checked. For Bigger Equipment stuff will often sit there in one phase of the Repair for Days before someone Checks on it to Confirm the Repair was done Properly. Before its then Continued.
And every little Part and Workhours etc etc of course need to be Recorded for the Invoice and Documentation.
Not only that. But many Parts are only ordered if a Repair requires them. Meaning the Civillian Contractor will often wait Months for a Specific Part to first be produced before he can then use it for the Repair because he only keeps more common parts in Storage.
In Wartime the Repairs would instead be done using the Spare Part Stockpiles from the Military.


The much Bigger Problem for the German Army is actually from a different thing.

A.
Lack of Manpower.
Thanks to Conscription being Paused the German Army will have trouble actually increasing its Size.
B.
Regulations and Blockades.
Procuring Equipment for the German Army is Complicated and often Riddled with Legal Challenges. Which makes it really difficult for them to Quickly increase in Size.
Same is true for Recruitment and Workplace Regulations which make it Difficult for German Armed Forces to Operate Properly.
C.
Lack of Combat Experience.
German Forces have Participated only very Limited in any Nato Combat Missions. Thus lacking Experience on many Levels.
D.
Multiparty Government Coalition.
The Current Government could really not be Worse for this. As there will be a Difficult Legal Battle for almost every Decision here.
As already Showcased as the 100 Billion Fund is now effectively Removed.
Instead it now basicly being the Increase to 2% instead of having it as a Starter which can then be Build upon by Future 2% Spending.
This alone already means that German Rearmament has been thrown back by 3-4 Years.
And likely there will be further troubles here as well.

[pershorefoodbanktrusselltr]

The guy talking this rubbish is obviously a German apologist, because he’s misrepresenting the reality completely with his graphs and theories. This is not Germanys new annual defence budget, it’s a budget increase, which is temporary. The British government for example are spending $180 billion on the Trident nuclear program and subs, outside of our annual budget and another another $30 billion on ships, Stealth fighters, Aircraft carriers. New tanks and vehicles. Germany are no where near this. Our budget over the past five years with outside spending is $100 billion, per year. Germanys new temporary budget includes outside spending as well, plus the annual budget to run the forces, which is $76 billion. The UK budget and outside spending since 2010 is approaching $850 billion, Germany is half that.

[ristusnotta]

i think the Russian numbers are everything including ww2 era tanks rusting away in scrap yards and fields

[tobiwan]

Russia's data is at war times while the other armies are shown at peace times. E.g. Russia has 2'800 tanks plus reserve, not 12'000 active tanks.