Germany to bolster military force with up to 60,000 additional troops under new NATO goals
Germany will need to expand its armed forces by as many as 60,000 soldiers to meet newly agreed NATO targets for personnel and equipment, according to Defence Minister Boris Pistorius.
"We are stepping up to our responsibility as Europe's largest economy," Pistorius told reporters ahead of a meeting with his NATO counterparts in Brussels that signed off on the new targets, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
Translating these plans into the military tools needed, NATO found severe shortfalls in various areas - ranging from large formations of combat-ready ground troops to long-range weapons, sufficient ammunition stockpiles and secure communications.
Pointing to the secret nature of the targets, NATO chief Mark Rutte only gave a rough outline of the gaps the alliance seeks to plug.
"We have to invest in our air defence systems, we have to invest in our long-range missiles, we have to invest in our manoeuvrable land-formations, command and control systems - all of this has to happen," Rutte told reporters, adding that all this would require huge investments.
In total, the Bundeswehr, Germany's armed forces, will need roughly 50,000 to 60,000 additional active soldiers across all branches of the military, said Pistorius. This would put the future strength of Germany's armed forces at between 250,000 and 260,000 troops.
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