armed forces
Inspector General: Consistently focus on defensiveness
Inspector General Carsten Breuer has plans for the Bundeswehr. photo
© Soeren Stache/dpa
Germany’s top soldier sets the course in the turning point. It calls for courage and a willingness to take risks. The Bundeswehr must be able to fight and win.
Inspector General Carsten Breuer wants them Rapidly align the Bundeswehr to defend Germany and its allies. In a keynote speech, Breuer demanded that a fundamental change in mentality be required, in which management principles should be consistently geared towards defensiveness.
One thing is necessary for credible deterrence: “Want to win. Because we have to win,” says the written text of the speech. At the same time, Breuer corrected an older motto and declared that “being able to fight in order not to have to fight” was no longer enough.
Societal resilience is essential – resilience in the event of a crisis beyond the military – “i.e. politics, society and industry, for the common goal of defending our freedom and our security,” said Breuer.
About technology and money
The officer, who took over the post in March, spoke at the Bundeswehr’s “Cyber Innovation Hub”, which is intended to promote technical developments and was founded as an interface between the start-up scene and the Bundeswehr. “Whereas in the past the military often set the pace for technological innovation, today we are confronted with ever shorter innovation cycles and potentially disruptive developments that our armaments and procurement processes simply cannot cope with,” he stated.
Money – like from the special fund for the Bundeswehr – is not everything. “In order to be able to spend this effectively, we must continue to resolutely streamline procurement processes, shake off the shackles we have put on ourselves and finally develop the speed that does justice to the urgency of the challenges,” explained the top soldier. “All structures and processes must serve the overarching goal of being able to defend ourselves and, in the case of the armed forces, being fit for war.”
Breuer on the war in Ukraine
Europe sees how Russia is waging a brutal war of attrition against Ukraine with clear parallels to the First World War. At the same time, new technologies are in use. Breuer calls an “reconnaissance and action network strengthened by artificial intelligence, in which drones are increasingly used”. The importance of air superiority is demonstrated every day.
“We see terrible war crimes against the civilian population and the destruction of infrastructure and livelihoods with global consequences for the food supply,” said Breuer. “We perceive the role of nuclear weapons primarily as a means of exerting political pressure and feel threatened by a possible major disaster at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant.”
He pointed to the use of mercenary groups. It is also becoming clear that civilian actors are playing an increasing role in warfare by providing the technology.
The Inspector General warned against taking the war in Ukraine as a blueprint for national and alliance defense, but the observations could be condensed into a war picture. He described it like this: “The simultaneity of all conceivable manifestations of military conflicts is an essential part of this image of war – from the archaic-looking war of attrition on land to drone warfare, bitter battles for superiority in the cyber and information space and, last but not least, hybrid warfare.”
He named the personnel, both civilian and military, as the most important resource of the German armed forces. “We have to find new and innovative ways to survive in the fight for the best minds in times of demographic change,” said Breuer and immediately made it clear: “If I invite you all, if I invite society, politics and industry, with the Bundeswehr standing up together for the freedom and security of our country, I am not striving for the reintroduction of general conscription.”