German army has €20 billion ammunition shortage – Top MP – RT World News
The Bundeswehr also lacks personal equipment, according to parliamentary defense commissioner Eva Hoegl
The German army is facing severe ammunition shortages, Bundestag commissioner for the armed forces Eva Hoegl warned on Sunday. She also highlighted the lack of some basic personal equipment needed by the army.
In an interview with the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, Hoegl revealed that it would cost the Bundeswehr 20 billion euros to replenish its ammunition stocks.
The MP called for army ammunition depots to be fully replenished during the current legislative session, saying the government had dragged its feet on the matter for years.
“Without ammunition, everything is nothing” Hoegl concluded.
She also highlighted the deplorable situation with regard to the basic equipment needed by German troops. She cited a case where national military personnel deployed in Lithuania had to participate in exercises without bulletproof vests.
Moreover, according to Hoegl, “With sick, parental and educational leave, many units are only at 60% staffing levels of what they have on paper.
The Commissioner warned that “without sufficient personnel, the best weapons are of little use.” She predicted that unless the ranks of the Bundeswehr swell significantly, Berlin will have to prioritize and cut back on its deployments. Therefore, with the focus on national defense, Germany should reduce its participation in international missions, Hoegl noted.
In October, Business Insider reported that the German military only had ammunition for one or two days of warfare, citing defense industry and parliamentary sources.
Although the problem has been around for years, it got even worse when Germany started supplying arms to Ukraine, the outlet claimed.
However, Berlin still delivered the first unit of its state-of-the-art IRIS-T air defense systems to Kyiv last month. Three more units, consisting of a command vehicle, a radar vehicle and a truck-mounted launcher, are expected to arrive in Ukraine in 2023.
Meanwhile, the German military has yet to receive the ground-based IRIS-T system, causing some politicians to worry that the country is arming Ukraine at the expense of its own defense capabilities. .
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