Category: Security policy

Ready for management tasks  

The establishment of a maritime command centre is progressing. Deu Marfor is well on the way to achieving full operational capability. Deu Marfor, the German Maritime Forces Staff, is ready. Commissioned on 23 January 2019, the staff is now capable of planning, supporting and leading multinational maritime manoeuvres and operations. The goal of taking on more responsibility within NATO resulted from the security situation following the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014. The interim goals achieved to date and the experience gained show one thing above all: Deu Marfor has proven its planning and leadership capabilities. The Northern Coasts exercise...

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Military deployment as an option

After the turning point, Germany must say goodbye to its dogmatic foreign policy. Probably no other term has been so overused in reporting this year as "turning point". Hardly a journalistic article with even an extended security policy context has managed without it. The turning point is almost exclusively used in a direct context, if not synonymously, with the 100 billion euro special fund for the Bundeswehr. This not only falls far too short, it is also dangerous. As desirable, overdue and necessary as a fully equipped Bundeswehr is for Germany, without the necessary broad societal debate on Germany's future security policy self-image and the future of the country's armed forces, it will be...

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Is the navy being forgotten in air defence?

The Patriot, Iris-T and Arrow land-based systems are the talk of the town when it comes to air defence. However, the German Navy already has modern and effective weapons for this purpose in the form of frigates 124. Russia's unlawful war against cities and critical civilian infrastructure in Ukraine has finally led to a realisation in Germany of the importance of efficient air defence. Now it is time to seriously and swiftly re-equip - together with other NATO partners. This was announced by Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht in a statement on the fringes of the October meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels. According to the statement, fourteen European countries and Germany have signed a letter of ...

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Size Matters

With China in mind, the American navy is to receive additional ships. This also raises the question of the shipbuilding industry's capacities on the other side of the Atlantic. The US Navy published the Navigation Plan 2022 (Navplan 2022) on 26 July. These documents, which are published at irregular intervals, provide an insight into the structural and capability planning of the US naval forces. The author of the Navplan is the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), in this case Admiral Michael Gilday. The new fleet composition propagated in the Navplan caused the greatest stir. The stated goal is a battle force of 373 manned ships plus 150 large, unmanned ships.

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Finding the right balance

The world has not seen a high-intensity naval battle for decades. In view of the Russian attack on Ukraine, the urgent question now arises as to how naval warfare needs to be rethought. You would think that the Russian attack on Ukraine would have made life easier for planners. After all, many uncertainties regarding Russian intentions have now been resolved, albeit painfully, and it is now possible to concentrate properly on adequate defence planning. However, with new certainties, new questions have unpleasantly arisen. Did the West underestimate Putin's dangerousness, but at the same time overestimate the capabilities of his army? Was the Russian approach so...

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