Bundeswehr

Order

Pursuant to Article 87a (1) sentence 1 of the Basic Law, the Federal Government has the mandate to establish armed forces for defence ("The Federal Government shall establish armed forces for defence."). The tasks and missions of the Bundeswehr resulting from this mandate are conceptually laid down in the White Paper and are subject to constant change to the same extent as the geopolitical security situation changes over time. The 2018 Bundeswehr Concept (KdB), derived from the White Paper, serves as an umbrella document that determines the basic lines of Germany's military defence in the long term. The 2011 Defence Policy Guidelines (VPR) describe the strategic framework for the mission and tasks of the Bundeswehr as follows:

• the Bundeswehr protects Germany and its citizens
• secures Germany's ability to act in foreign policy
• contributes to the defence of the allies
• contributes to stability and partnership in the international framework
• promotes multinational cooperation and European integration

During the East-West conflict, the main task of the Bundeswehr was to defend against an attack from the East. Since 1990, its range of tasks has shifted considerably: in addition to classical national defence, participation in foreign missions in a global framework has come to the fore. In the words of former Defence Minister Peter Struck, the defence of the Federal Republic of Germany "no longer takes place only in Hindelang, but also in the Hindu Kush".

According to the 2016 White Paper, the Bundeswehr has the mission within the framework of the whole-of-government approach:

• To defend Germany's sovereignty and territorial integrity and to protect its citizens;
• contribute to the resilience of state and society against external threats;
• to support and secure Germany's ability to act in foreign and security policy;
• to contribute, together with partners and allies, to countering security threats to an open society and free and secure world trade and supply routes;
• to contribute to the defence of Germany's allies and the protection of their citizens;
• Promote security and stability in the international framework;
• strengthen European integration, transatlantic partnership and multinational cooperation.

Tasks

Derived from its mission, the Bundeswehr performs the following tasks in a nationwide approach:

• National and Alliance Defence (LV/BV) in the framework of NATO and the European Union (EU)
• Homeland Security, National Risk and Crisis Management for the Protection of German Nationals Abroad (NatRKM) and Subsidiary Support Services in Germany
• International crisis management including active military and civil-military contributions
• Partnership and cooperation beyond the EU and NATO
• Humanitarian emergency and disaster relief to help take responsibility for addressing humanitarian challenges.

In addition, there are tasks to be performed throughout:

• Defence aspects of national cyber security, contributions to the national situation picture in cyber and information space in the context of national and multinational security preparedness, and ensuring cyber security in the Bundeswehr's own networks;
• Support services to maintain and further develop national key technology areas and to promote partnership, in particular European and Atlantic approaches to research, development and exploitation of capabilities;
• all measures for the maintenance of domestic operations, including the performance of office duties, qualification, training and further training, training and exercise support and military security and order.

International alliances and organizations

According to Article 24 of the Basic Law, the Federation may, in order to preserve peace, join a system of mutual collective security and, in so doing, consent to limitations of its sovereign rights in order to bring about and secure a peaceful and lasting order in Europe and among the peoples of the world.

NATO

The Federal Republic of Germany joined NATO on 6 May 1955, and the formal admission ceremony and the first NATO ministerial meeting with German participation took place on 9 May. Its armed forces were firmly integrated into the NATO structure during the East-West conflict. After 1990, this fixed link between parts of the Allies' national armed forces and certain elements of the NATO command structure was removed. Nevertheless, German forces remain integrated into NATO's force planning process. The notification of forces to NATO is a self-commitment; NATO cannot force member states to maintain certain forces. As a contribution to the NATO Response Force, the Bundeswehr is prepared to maintain up to 5,000 soldiers at high readiness at any time.

Article 5 of the NATO Treaty, in conjunction with Article 115a of the Basic Law, provides for a further possible deployment of the Bundeswehr in the event of an alliance conflict. The Bundeswehr can also be deployed if a NATO ally is attacked. Since its establishment, the case of alliance was declared for the first time after 11 September 2001. This case of alliance has not yet been revoked.

European Union

With the development of its own European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP), the EU has acquired its own military capacity to act. In accordance with the European Headline Goal of 1999 (EHG), the member states were to keep 60,000 soldiers ready for a European rapid reaction force that could be deployed within 60 days for a period of one year. Germany intended to provide up to 18,000 soldiers for this purpose. Within the framework of the adjusted Headline Goal 2010, the Bundeswehr is participating in EU Battlegroups with different force deployments.

United Nations

In order to be able to call on troops as quickly as possible when needed, the UN has concluded so-called "standby arrangements" with various states. In 1999, Germany agreed to provide about 1,000 soldiers for the UN.

Defense case

In peacetime, the Federal Minister of Defence holds the power of command and command authority. In the event of defence, this function is transferred to the acting Federal Chancellor in accordance with Article 115b of the Basic Law.

The Bundeswehr is a parliamentary army whose armed deployment requires a resolution of the German Bundestag. If the situation unavoidably requires immediate action, the Joint Committee may declare a state of defence as a precondition for the deployment of the armed forces in accordance with the special provision of Article 115a (2) of the Basic Law. Under the narrower preconditions of an armed attack on the federal territory referred to in Article 115a (4) of the Basic Law, and only if the federal organs responsible for determining the case of defence are unable to act, the determination of the case of defence is already deemed to have been made.

Foreign operations

The Bundeswehr can deploy up to 10,000 soldiers for foreign missions (United Nations peacekeeping forces, humanitarian missions, assistance in the event of natural disasters).

As a result of the changed security situation since 1990, the Bundeswehr has also been deployed for peacekeeping and peacekeeping operations outside the Federal Republic of Germany. Immediately after reunification, a heated debate began on the deployment of the Bundeswehr outside NATO-contracted territory (out-of-area debate). The first such missions were Operation Southern Flank in 1991, a naval mine-clearance operation in the Persian Gulf after the Second Gulf War, and the deployment of a field hospital to Phnom Penh (Cambodia) in 1993 as part of the UN missions UNAMIC and UNTAC. This was followed by missions in the Adriatic (SHARP GUARD 1992-1996), in Somalia (UNOSOM II) and in the Balkans within the framework of the IFOR and SFOR missions. The constitutional admissibility of deployments under Article 24 (2) of the Basic Law (i.e. within NATO or UN mandates) was clarified by the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court of 12 July 1994. Moreover, this judgment is the basis of the parliamentary reservation for the deployment of armed German forces abroad, which was established in law in 2005 by the Parliamentary Participation Act. In the literature it is disputed whether this reservation was only explicitly clarified by the ruling or whether it was only "introduced" by the court in an extensive interpretation of the constitution.

Major ongoing missions include:

As of May 31, 2017, there were 3457 soldiers deployed overseas.

Since 1992, a total of 106 soldiers have lost their lives on foreign missions, 37 soldiers died as a result of external causes and 69 died as a result of other circumstances. A total of 22 members of the Bundeswehr took their own lives during foreign missions. (Status: 2 October 2015)

According to information provided by the Ministry of Defence in a response to a minor question from the Left Party, the Bundeswehr's foreign missions cost almost 21 billion euros between 1992 and August 2017. Since 1991, around 410,000 soldiers have been on 52 international missions. During this period, 108 soldiers have lost their lives.

Ever since the Bundeswehr actively participated in the war against terror in Afghanistan in 2001 with its army, air force and special units, discussions have repeatedly flared up about the meaningfulness and purpose of the mission. An overwhelming majority of the population now rejects the mission and the soldiers want more recognition from German society.

Use in the interior

On the basis of Article 35 (2) and (3) and Article 87a (4) of the Basic Law, the Federal Government may, under narrow conditions ("ultima ratio", "state emergency as a particularly dangerous situation of internal emergency"), decide to deploy the Federal Armed Forces in the event of particularly serious accidents, natural disasters, organised and militarily armed insurrections and terrorist threats, including the proportionate use of its military combat resources, but not, for example, against demonstrating crowds.

The Basic Law provides for the deployment of the Bundeswehr for the external defence of the Federal Republic of Germany. For all other forms of deployment, i.e. including the use of the Bundeswehr on or over German territory, the authorities are bound by constitutional provisions under Article 87a (2) of the Basic Law. If the constitutional requirements are met, the Bundeswehr can take on supporting functions with regard to police security measures that are already under way.

• Within the framework of administrative assistance and the lending of organs (principle of subsidiarity), it is permissible under Article 35.2 sentence 2 of the Basic Law for a Land to request "forces and facilities" of the armed forces "to provide assistance in the event of a natural disaster or a particularly serious accident". In this context, according to recent case-law of the Federal Constitutional Court, the term "accident" can be interpreted broadly in accordance with the meaning and purpose of the deployment of the Bundeswehr, namely effective disaster control. These constitutional exceptions to the deployment of the armed forces in internal affairs were introduced by the "Seventeenth Law Amending the Basic Law" of 1968 (see German Emergency Laws) and the "Thirty-First Law Amending the Basic Law" of 1972. Article 9 of the Basic Law stipulates that such measures may not be directed against (further qualified) labour disputes.
• "Urgent emergency assistance" may be provided in the event of emergencies other than natural disasters and accidents, provided that it is necessary to save human lives or to prevent serious damage to health, considerable damage to the environment and the loss of material of value to the general public. It is permissible as long as suitable assistance forces and suitable material of the competent authorities or relief organisations are not sufficiently available or not available in time and the assistance is limited to a few members of the Bundeswehr. It can be provided by any leader on site.
• According to Article 87a (4) of the Basic Law in conjunction with Article 91 (2) of the Basic Law, a further possibility for the deployment of the Bundeswehr in the interior results from a threat to the existence of the Federal Republic of Germany within the framework provided for by the Basic Law through the emergency constitution and the emergency laws. This includes, on the one hand, a threat to the existence of the Federation or of a Land or, on the other hand, a threat to the free democratic basic order. In any case, the provisions of Article 91 (2) of the Basic Law must be fulfilled, according to which the threatened country must either be unable or unwilling to secure its existence or the free democratic basic order, so that a deployment of armed forces within the country is constitutional.
• On 17 August 2012, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled in a plenary decision that the use of military means of the Bundeswehr within Germany was permissible in "exceptional situations of catastrophic proportions". This may only be done as ultima ratio, but not against demonstrating crowds or to shoot down hijacked passenger planes (see also Air Security Act), both of which continue to be unconstitutional.
• From June 2015 onwards, the Bundeswehr carried out its most personnel-intensive and longest domestic deployment during the refugee crisis following requests for assistance from federal states and municipalities.
• During the COVID 19 pandemic of 2020, the Bundeswehr again provided extensive and diverse support measures at the request of municipalities and Länder. For this purpose, it deployed a "corona assistance contingent" with 15,000 soldiers, who were joined by another 17,000 civilians from the medical sector.

Management organization

The Bundeswehr is led by the Federal Minister of Defence as the holder of the command and control authority (IBuK). The Federal Ministry of Defence (BMVg), as the supreme federal authority, supports him in this task. Two civil servants and two parliamentary state secretaries are assigned to the Minister. The Minister, the State Secretaries and the Inspector General together form the management of the Ministry. The subordinate sector of the Ministry is subdivided into military and civilian organisational sectors, each of which is subordinate to the respective heads of department of the BMVg. The BMVg itself is not assigned to the Bundeswehr - the official designation for the entire legislative and executive part of the Federal Republic of Germany (BMVg and Bundeswehr) relating to the armed forces is the BMVg Division.

Command and control

Military organizational units

• Forces
• Armed Forces
• Army
• Air Force
• Marine
• Armed Forces Base
• Cyber and Information Space (CIR)
• Central medical service

Civil organizational areas

• Federal Armed Forces Administration, divided into three organisational areas with the higher federal authorities assigned to them. Pursuant to Article 87b of the Basic Law, it is run as a federal administration with its own administrative substructure. It serves the tasks of personnel, equipment, infrastructure and services of the armed forces.
• Personnel (P) with
• the Federal Office of Personnel Management of the Bundeswehr (BAPersBw),
• the Bundeswehr Training Centre (BIZBw),
• the Federal University of Applied Sciences - Department of Federal Armed Forces Administration
• the Federal Language Office (BSprA) and
• the two universities of the Bundeswehr (UniBw)
• Equipment, Information Technology and Use (AIN) with
• the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw)
• Infrastructure, Environment and Services (IUD) with
• the Federal Office for Infrastructure, Environmental Protection and Services of the Bundeswehr (BAIUDBw)
• In addition, the areas of law enforcement and military chaplaincy are part of the Bundeswehr.
• Military chaplaincy with
• the Catholic Military Bishop's Office
• the Protestant Church Office for the Armed Forces
• Administration of justice of the Federal Armed Forces with
• the Bundeswehr disciplinary lawyer at the Federal Administrative Court and
• the North and South Military Service Tribunals

In addition to these organisational units, there are six units which report directly to the Inspector General:

·         Federal Office for the Military Counter-Intelligence Service (BAMAD)

·         Bundeswehr Operations Command (EinsFüKdoBw)

·         Bundeswehr Command and Staff College (FüAkBw)

·         Federal Armed Forces Aviation Office (LufABw)

·         Planning Office of the Bundeswehr (PlgABw)

·         Center for Innere Führung (ZInFü)

Except for the Federal Office for the Military Counter-Intelligence Service, which is a civilian higher federal authority, these services belong to the armed forces.

Inspector General

The Inspector General of the Bundeswehr with the rank of General or Admiral is the highest military advisor to the Federal Government. He is a member of the Federal Ministry of Defence and the military superior of all soldiers in the armed forces. He is subordinate to the Federal Minister (in peacetime) or the Federal Chancellor (in defence) as well as to the State Secretaries of the Ministry of Defence (primacy of politics). The Inspector General is responsible for the overall concept of military defence. In addition to Bundeswehr planning, this includes above all the command of operations, for which he is personally responsible to the Minister.

Mission control

The Federal Minister of Defence is responsible for command and control of all operations as long as command and control has not been transferred to the Federal Chancellor in case of defence. The chain of command for tasks remaining under national responsibility runs from the Inspector General, who is supported in operational matters by the Strategy and Operations Division in the Federal Ministry of Defence, via the Bundeswehr Operations Command in Schwielowsee near Potsdam to the respective contingent commander in the area of operations. As the operational level of command, the Operations Command basically plans and conducts all national or multinational missions abroad.

Staff

The Bundeswehr is one of the largest employers and training companies in Germany and, according to the trend report by the market research company trendence, is the third most popular employer among school pupils. From around 120,000 military and civilian applications, approximately 25,000 recruitments are made each year for military and civilian assignments throughout the Bundeswehr.

Civilian staffing levels and structure

Civilian employees are deployed in various areas of responsibility - including in the armed forces - and play an essential role in supporting the Bundeswehr, especially in administrative tasks. The civilian parts of the Bundeswehr comprise the Bundeswehr administration with the organisational areas of

• Equipment, Information Technology and Use (AIN)
• Infrastructure, Environment and Services (IUD)
• Personnel (P)

as well as the organisational areas of legal administration and military chaplaincy. Until 2012, the Bundeswehr Administration was divided into the Territorial Defence Administration and the Armaments Division.

A total of 80,674 civilian staff are employed in the Federal Ministry of Defence and the Bundeswehr. They are distributed as follows:

• Federal Ministry of Defence: 1,662
• Federal Armed Forces Administration (AIN, IUD and P), administration of justice, military chaplaincy and other departments attributable to the civilian sector: 55,963
• Armed Forces and Military Agencies: 23,049

Among the civilian employees of the Bundeswehr, there are 30,760 women (38.1%) who work in all areas of the Bundeswehr.

Military personnel strength and structure

The Bundeswehr comprises a total of 183,885 active servicemen and women. They are distributed as follows:

• Federal Ministry of Defence: 1,147
• departments directly subordinate to it: 3,285
• Armed Forces Base: 27,659
• Central medical service: 19,807
• Army: 63,002
• Air Force: 27,392
• Navy: 16,306
• CIR: 14.303
• Infrastructure, environmental protection, services: 955
• Equipment, information technology, utilization: 1,756
• Personnel: 8,273, including up to 5,400 students at the Bw universities

The Bundeswehr currently comprises 53,113 professional and 121,194 regular soldiers (total: 174,307) as well as 9,326 voluntary conscripts and 252 voluntary conscripts in homeland security.

There are 23,279 female soldiers in the Bundeswehr. (See also section Women)

Since 1990, the personnel structure of the Bundeswehr has been adapted in several steps to the changed requirements. During the Cold War, the Bundeswehr had a target strength of about 495,000 soldiers. In addition, around half a million Bundeswehr reservists were planned for the non-active units, which were to grow up in the event of defence. After reunification, an upper limit of 370,000 soldiers was set for the Bundeswehr as part of the Two Plus Four Treaty. This stipulation is still binding under international law today. According to the Personnel Structure Model (PSM 2010), in 2010 the Bundeswehr still had a peacetime strength of about 250,000 soldiers and 75,000 civilian personnel. About 20 % of the soldiers were still conscripts, the rest were professional soldiers and temporary soldiers.

With the realignment of the Bundeswehr, a new target size (PSM 185) has been defined since 2011. According to this, a total of up to 185,000 soldiers is envisaged, comprising 170,000 professional and temporary soldiers, 2,500 reservists and 5,000 to 12,500 voluntary conscripts. The number of civilian service posts in the armed forces (i.e. not in the Bundeswehr administration) is to be 18,700. As part of the so-called "personnel trend reversal" initiated by Ursula von der Leyen, the number of professional and temporary soldiers is to be increased from 170,000 to at least 177,000 between 2016 and 2021, with a total of around 14,300 additional service posts to be created by 2023. The initial target was to return to a total of 170,000 professional and temporary soldiers as part of the turnaround at the end of 2016, but this was not achieved with 168,342 professional and temporary soldiers. However, by November 2019, around 175,000 professional and temporary soldiers are already serving in the Bundeswehr. Including voluntary conscripts, the armed forces currently have over 183,000 members. According to the Federal Office of Personnel Management of the Bundeswehr, the long-term goal is to further increase the size of the Bundeswehr to 203,000 soldiers in 2025.

Reservists

About 90,000 reservists are scheduled as:

• Troop reserve: This comprises individual duty posts and supplementary units that are activated as required. Reservists with special civilian professional qualifications are needed, which the armed forces do not have in sufficient numbers structurally. They are needed for the operational readiness of supplementary units and services in peacetime and for the establishment of defence readiness. This also includes the so-called "mirrored duty posts" in order to be able to fill them in the absence of the active soldier.
• Territorial Reserve: This consists of the liaison commands to the districts and counties in Germany, the bases for Civil-Military Cooperation in Germany (ZMZ-I) and the new Regional Security and Support Forces. A total of 30 companies of these forces are subordinated to all regional commands of the individual federal states.

• General Reserve: This includes all other reservists and is available for a possible long-term increase in the Bundeswehr.

Reservists - especially those with specialist civilian skills - are also deployed on missions abroad. This applies, for example, to specialists such as gynaecologists or paediatricians who do not exist in active service with the Bundeswehr but whose knowledge is particularly needed in humanitarian missions.

Veterans

In 2018, the Ministry of Defence, the German Armed Forces Association and the Association of Reservists of the German Armed Forces agreed on a broad definition of a veteran. According to this definition, any soldier who is serving on active duty in the Bundeswehr or who has retired honorably (without loss of rank) is a veteran. Since then, there have been more than ten million veterans in Germany. The Association of German Deployment Veterans had demanded that veterans should only be soldiers who have actually participated in foreign deployments of the Bundeswehr. On 15 June 2019, the veteran badge was awarded for the first time. In addition, a veterans' day is also demanded.

Rank structure

Women

In the Bundeswehr, 23,279 women perform their service as soldiers of the Bundeswehr, of which 8,126 are in the Medical Service, 3,059 in the Armed Forces Base, 4,485 in the Army, 2,444 in the Air Force, 1,703 in the Navy, 1,399 in CIR, and 2,063 in the Ministry and other areas. Women thus account for 12.7% of all soldiers. In the next few years, according to Bundeswehr planning, the Bundeswehr expects women to make up 15 % of troop service and 50 % of medical service, which has already been achieved in the recruitment cohorts.

The percentages of women in the branches of the armed forces/organization are as follows (April 2021):

• Army: 7.1 %
• Air Force: 8.9
• Marine: 10.4
• Armed Forces Base: 11.1
• Central medical service: 41.0%.
• Cyber and information space: 9.8%.

The opening of the Bundeswehr to women for voluntary service as professional or temporary soldiers in all branches of the armed forces took place in 2001 after the so-called Kreil decision of the European Court of Justice. As early as 1975, the Bundeswehr had been opened to women, but initially limited to the medical and military music service. Since then, women have been able to work in the medical service as licensed physicians, dentists, veterinarians, or pharmacists. The first female medical officer candidates were recruited in 1989, and the career groups of non-commissioned officers and enlisted men in the medical and military music service were opened up to women in 1991. The first female pilots to fly Transall transport aircraft and the first female fighter pilot completed their training with the Bundeswehr just a few years ago. Women take part in all foreign missions of the Bundeswehr in a wide variety of tasks.

Women are subject to the same minimum physical performance requirements as men for the basic fitness test, which must be taken on recruitment and then annually. However, they receive a gender surcharge of 15% on the performance in the sprint test and 1,000 m run and 40% on the performance in the chin-up. If the performance falls short of the minimum, the test is deemed to have been failed.

Homosexuality

Homosexual soldiers have equal legal status in the Bundeswehr. The Soldiers' Equal Treatment Act (Soldatinnen- und Soldaten-Gleichbehandlungsgesetz, SoldGG) aims to prevent or eliminate discrimination on grounds of sexual identity, among other things, for service as a soldier.

Transgender

On the basis of the Transsexuals Act of 10 September 1980, the change of gender in the Bundeswehr is possible and practice. One case that received a lot of media attention is that of Lieutenant Colonel (Air Force) Anastasia Biefang.

People with a migration background

There is varying information on the exact number of soldiers with a migrant family history. They range between 13% and 26%. The majority of soldiers with a migrant background come from Russian-German families.

Diversity Charter

In February 2012, the Bundeswehr signed the Diversity Charter. In April 2015, the staff element "Equal Opportunities" was established in the Federal Ministry of Defence (BMVg) and expanded to include "Equal Opportunities, Diversity and Inclusion" with effect from 1 May 2016.

Minors

Following the suspension of compulsory military service in 2011, the Bundeswehr is a volunteer army and also recruits applicants as young as 17 as voluntary soldiers with the consent of their legal representatives. In 2019, there were 1,706 soldiers who were not yet of age when they entered service.

Media

The Bundeswehr has its own television and radio station. The Centre for Operational Communication (ZOpKomBw) in Mayen operates both the television station Bundeswehr TV and the radio station Radio Andernach. Both stations are aimed exclusively at soldiers and civilian employees of the Bundeswehr. The Bundeswehr also maintains a YouTube channel on which insights into the work of the Bundeswehr as well as equipment and operations are regularly uploaded.

In addition, the Bundeswehr also publishes various print media, including the official "aktuell", a weekly newspaper for the Bundeswehr published by the Federal Ministry of Defence, and the magazine "Y". There are also the magazines "if - Zeitschrift für Innere Führung" and "Militärgeschichte - Zeitschrift für historische Bildung". The Bundeswehr also presents itself with its own Facebook presence:

Independent of the Federal Ministry of Defence, the German Armed Forces Association, chaired by Lieutenant Colonel André Wüstner, also publishes its own magazine "Die Bundeswehr".