DWT Symposium Prospects for the defence industry 2022

Under the banner of the Bundeswehr Special Fund

At the 'Prospects for the defence industry' symposium, representatives from the official side will meet representatives from the fields of defence technology and the defence industry. For more than ten years, DWT and SGW have offered a tried-and-tested platform for dialogue and information with this event, which marks the start of the annual programme. Due to the formation of the new government, the date has been postponed to 7 March 2022, and the change in German security policy initiated on 27 February has given the event a new impetus. This gave high-ranking representatives of the Federal Ministry of Defence (BMVg) the opportunity to give an insight into the 'Special Fund for the Bundeswehr' announced by Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Lieutenant General Christian Badia, Head of the Planning Department, Vice Admiral Carsten Stawitzki, Head of the Equipment Department, and Lieutenant General Michael Vetter, Head of the CIT Department, emphasised that the 100 billion euros will be used for necessary investments and armaments projects. These are not to be understood as rearmament. Rather, they serve to improve the availability of material and thus increase the material operational readiness of the Bundeswehr in the short term. In this respect, the final figure of 100 billion euros will not be on top of the NATO two per cent target. The special fund is to be used at least in part to finance the increase towards the NATO quota. With the caveat that he could not go into detail before discussing the 2022/2023 federal budget and the financial plan up to 2026, the Head of the Budget Department, MinDir Karl Henning Bald, presented the budgetary prospects. According to the current financial plan (from June 2022), 51.8 billion euros are planned for 2022 and 50.9 billion euros for 2023. This would correspond to 1.46 per cent and 1.33 per cent of gross domestic product respectively.

Industry on board

In response to two emergency conferences with 280 industry and business representatives convened by Vice Admiral Stawitzki as National Armaments Director, Dr Hans-Christoph Atzpodien, Managing Director of the BDSV, assured the industry that it would be able to respond to the Ministry of Defence's call. And not only because of the stable planning basis for which it sees the 100 billion euro investment.

The 260 participants at the DWT/SGW symposium were also given an insight into the legal framework, presented by MinDirig Stefan Sohm, Head of Sub-Department RIII at the Federal Ministry of Defence. The former Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces, Dr Hans-Peter Bartels, gave a lecture and took part in a panel discussion on the personnel perspective. He was joined on the podium by Prof. Dr Patrick Sensburg, President of the Reservists' Association, and a member of the Bundeswehr Association's Executive Board, Lieutenant Colonel (retired) Dr Detlef Buch.

Parliamentary State Secretary Thomas Hiltschler opened the event with a summary of the prospects for security and defence policy.

What remains: scepticism

By the end of the day, reservations about the use of the special fund had been at least partially dispelled. Details or concrete procurement intentions were not to be expected anyway. The representatives of the Ministry of Defence who were present spread optimism that there was now the possibility of giving those projects that we have been putting off for a long time a chance of being realised.

Scepticism remains as to whether the procurement system can be modernised and made more flexible. The framework conditions seem favourable. But: can the legal, procedural and organisational conditions be established in the required short term? The 100 billion euros are important. Money is coming - one is inclined to say: finally! It alone will not solve the Bundeswehr's dilemma. What is needed is a strategy in security policy that defines the objectives and enables prioritisation. What is also desirable is a different social awareness of security policy issues and a different approach to the armed forces. This also includes the realisation that military measures can be a 'normal' political instrument.