Germany Defence and Security Report Q3 2009

The German government is still coming to terms with the defence and security policies of the new administration in Washington. Although there is apparent relief in Berlin at the demise of the Bush administration and emphasis placed on multilateralism by President Barack Obama, the new American policy in Afghanistan is far from popular with all elements of the German government.

At the NATO summit in Strasbourg and Kehl in April, Chancellor Angela Merkel resisted US attempts to pressure the German government to allow German troops to participate in high intensity combat operations in Afghanistan. The commitment of German ground troops to combat operations is still highly sensitive with public opinion so it is very unlikely that Merkel will ever sanction an active combat role for German forces.

The Germans are strong advocates of the role of their troops in the north of Afghanistan in maintaining a balance of power in the central Asian country. Several key Afghan warlords have their base in the north of the country and German forces play an important role in ensuring they stay engaged with the government of President Hamid Karzai.

Germany remains actively involved with UN and European Union peacekeeping missions around the world, providing financial support and troop contributions. The most high profile missions are in the Lebanon and off the Somalia coast. Germany set up and now remains the largest contributor to the UN Maritime Task Force off the coast of Lebanon. Sensitivities about German troops having to confront Israeli troops along the Lebanon-Israel border prevented Berlin from contributing troops to the land component of the upgraded UN mission in Lebanon, so the Germans were keen to make a big naval contribution. This complex mission involves enhancing security in the south of Lebanon and assisting the training of Lebanese naval forces.

Similarly, the German Navy has been in the forefront of the European Union naval mission off the Somali coast and its ships have been in engaged in several incidents with pirates. Germany has sent two frigates and support vessel to participate in the EU-led anti-piracy mission off Somalia. Lockheed P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft have also been deployed to Djibouti to provide airborne surveillance to international naval forces in the region.

Germany continues to be engaged in the Balkans and provides major force elements in Kosovo, including a battalion-sized unit and a company-sized contingent in the rump EU force in Bosnia. The next year is likely to see these contributions come under greater scrutiny and may see them scaled back to free up resources for missions in the Middle East and Afghanistan.

As US-led efforts to kick start peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians gather momentum during 2009 the German government is likely to be a major contributor of forces and resources.

Germany has been a strong support of small EU police and border monitoring missions in the Palestinian Territories. The German government’s attempts to maintain good relations with the Obama administration mean it is likely that Berlin will be forefront of any expanded EU engagement in peace support operations in Israel and Palestine.

On the defence procurement front, there was good news for the German air force in April and May when the four nations of the Eurofighter consortium initialled a document of intent to move forward negotiations to buy Tranche 3 combat aircraft. It emerged in May that the Eurofighter nations were moving to split the Tranche 3 order into two batches, with the first one being for 112 aircraft, of which 30 would be for Germany.

However, German plans to replace the Luftwaffe’s fleet of 1960s vintage C160 Transall transport aircraft have run into major problems after it emerged that the Airbus A400M aircraft was going to be at least two years late in entering service. Technical problems have stalled the test flight programme and production of the European transport aircraft, forcing a major re-assessment of the project by EADS, Airbus and the other partners. Germany has hinted that it wants Airbus to pay compensation payments to buy new capabilities to cover the gaps created by the delays to the A400M.

The global economic crisis has yet to impact in a major way to date on German defence policies and budget but it is expected that later in the year Berlin will begin to reflect the economic realities in its planning cycle for the 2010 budget. Procurement delays or cancellations seem likely, along with more rationalisations of the Bundeswehr’s force structure.