Summary: German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen has vowed to examine the country’s defence “weak points and the need for action” following a report from consultancy group KPMG.
It is likely that a complete overhaul of the country’s defence arms procurement processes is imminent if it is to contain rising costs and address the state of its hardware.
The report was commissioned at the request of the defence procurement office and identified 140 problems and risks facing Germany’s nine key arms projects, worth a total of 57 billion Euros.
It has identified numerous issues with the defence procurement process and warned that “improvement in the management of national and international projects is urgent and needed without delay”.
Ms Von der Leyen has acknowledged in recent weeks that some of Germany’s military hardware is in such disrepair that it is unable to meet its NATO commitments, but insisted that Germany could still play a strong role in foreign military missions.
Ms von der Leyen said: “We’ve invested a lot in the armed forces’ deployment capability in recent years, so it’s important to me that we don’t now throw the baby out with the bath water,” she said.
“Nonetheless, that must not lead us to close our eyes to the work we have to do on basic operations.”
