Over the course of the last couple of years, I've essayed a bit over the issues of the German military and their shortfalls involving equipment. Jokes are regularly made by German comedians about this problem, or this series of aircraft being grounded. Politicians can generally hype the issues but to rectify the problems....it only leads to conversations about more cash flow into the organization to pay for solutions. No one wants to really get serious about that.
I noted today....N-TV, the German commercial news service hyped this new 'chatter'.
The Defense Minister....Ursula von der Leyen (CDU)....has gone and requested an additional twelve billion euros (over four years) on top of the current budget.
The odds that the request can be fulfilled by the Chief of Budget (Scholz, SPD)? The entire amount? It's difficult to predict.
Right now, there's heavy competition about taking any existing 'extra' funds in the budget to correct problems with social welfare. Various other cabinet members are also fighting for extra funds.
Taxation increasing to pay for all of this? That's not something that the public will buy off on. Even if you went after companies to increase the taxation....it might encourage movement to another EU member state to repair the taxation issue.
But going back to the German military....are they really in that bad of shape? Most of what you tend to see in various reports is a marginalized logistical line. Spare parts aren't there when things break down. So you order the part from your commercial vendor, and wait for the arrival. It might be a month.....maybe several months, before this part arrives. If this were the case only with fighter aircraft, it might be acceptable. But they repeat this process with helicopters, subs, ships, tanks, etc.
Logically, you get to a point of wondering if this logistical 'curve' is intentional and created in a way to ensure that the German military never participates in any military conflicts. It's an amusing way to conduct affairs, but this has been going on for at least a decade now.
So settle back and watch the financial talk unfold over more cash.
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