Category: Armed Forces

Bundeswehr to learn to fight again

In her 2021 annual report, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces once again puts her finger in the open wounds. In the 2021 annual report, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces, Eva Högl, once again describes the problems of the armed forces that have been known for years and continue to be current: material and personnel shortages, bureaucracy, excessively long planning and award procedures for procurement and insufficient operational readiness. The material operational readiness of the main weapon systems is 77 per cent (2020: 74 %). In the operational areas of Lithuania, Mali and Niger, the operational readiness of major equipment was just under 50 per cent in some cases. The current operational load is leading to extremely high wear and tear in the navy, which is why it is dependent on...

Weiterlesen

Kidnapping and blackmail

The IMB's latest piracy report shows the effectiveness of targeted maritime surveillance. Nevertheless, some sea areas are still not spared from attacks. The statistics on global piracy from the International Maritime Bureau in London have been published since 1990. It is the most reliable barometer of current developments, even if it does not cover all cases. In 2021, 132 incidents were reported to the IMB. By comparison, there were 195 in 2020 and a few fewer in 2019 (162). This shows encouraging developments from a global perspective. Comparative value: In the years 2009 to 2011, well over 200 incidents were recorded in the waters of the Horn of Africa alone. Access...

Weiterlesen

Russia - the great crisis

Putin wants to restore the Soviet Union's former greatness Rarely have threats from outside stirred up public opinion in Germany as much as in recent weeks. My old navy and crew mates asked me to take a stand on this. I had to write three versions, and I hope that this one will survive the time between the editorial deadline and the publication of the April issue. At the last great turning point in 1989/90, people said "the word is getting old". This time, the upheaval is perhaps even faster and at least as radical. What was so...

Weiterlesen

Compass for the future

A good team can prevent many future accidents by intensively dealing with mistakes. Crew resource management therefore plays an important role in the training of prospective submarine commanders. People are not infallible. Looking at accidents ex post still leads to frowns and the realisation that something like this should never have happened. However, we know that 75 to 90 per cent of errors are human in nature, which is why qualitative error management gives us the opportunity to break out of the classic "error phobia" and replace fear, shame and the fear of punishment with an objective and open approach. During the training for...

Weiterlesen

Fast, faster, naval arsenal

It was often criticised that the corvettes in Warnemünde should have a higher availability. The navy, procurement office and naval arsenal were able to remedy this with an innovative pilot project. In 2020, the pilot project "Immediate Operational Readiness Programme - Immediate Repair Order Navy" was launched on behalf of the Inspector General of the German Armed Forces. The aim was to increase the operational readiness of the corvettes at the Warnemünde base and on deployment. At the same time, a noticeable reduction in the workload of the Naval Arsenal (MArs) was to be achieved in order to be able to better concentrate its own resources on repairs in the workshops. For example, the naval arsenal had to be geographically...

Weiterlesen
en_GBEnglish