This year, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz pledged to build Europe’s strongest army – a tall order for a country whose military has undergone years of neglect.
The coalition government is hoping a new bill agreed upon last week will help make this a reality, bolstering Germany’s forces in the face of the perceived threat from Russia and a significant shift in US foreign policy.
The sweeping new reforms will see Germany attempt to boost its numbers to 260,000 soldiers, up from around 180,000 currently, in addition to an extra 200,000 reservists, by 2035.
Yeah except right now the biggest issue the Bundeswehr faces is equipment and troop readiness. A report came around 2022 and made noise. After a short exercise 18 modern Puma IVF had been out of action for lack of spare parts on relatively minor issues. And that was on the 10th Panzer division which was earmarked for deployment in Lithuania, not a low priority unit.
More bodies are nice for an army. But those come after the infrastructure has been fixed for what already exist