They are now constantly in the air with their planes, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This is the new reality since war has raged in Ukraine. Lieutenant Colonel S., Eurofighterpilot, combat name “Bigfoot”, stands in a simple functional building of a military base near the city of Constanta on the Black Sea and reports on his new everyday life. Every two days he goes out on an airspace patrol, up into the sky over Romania. They comb the area for two, sometimes two and a half hours, making sure that no unauthorized aircraft enters NATO airspace. And when they land, the next ones are already rising Eurofighter on.
Not long ago, interceptors were on alert and not always in the air. It’s different now that – and these words don’t come easily to him, the soldier, either – “war broke out”.
This is the situation in the Bundeswehr’s new crisis area, where Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) left for a short visit on Wednesday. Romania, a military base near the Black Sea city of Constanta. The Air Force already has 2021 Eurofighter-Jets sent there. “Air Policing South” is the name of this mission. It’s about “protecting” NATO’s external borders. But at that time there was no war in the neighborhood.
Recently, the Bundeswehr’s operations on the eastern flank have received little attention. If the defense ministers have traveled in recent years, then Gao and Bamako in Mali have been compulsory stations, Baghdad and Erbil in Iraq and, until August 2021, Kabul and Mazar-i-Sharif. The war in Afghanistan is over for the Bundeswehr. Elsewhere, too, it seems to be on the decline, for example in Mali, where there have been no successes and the political framework is constantly deteriorating.
The US military has sent soldiers and material, the French are increasing their troops
With the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, the focus has changed abruptly anyway. It’s like a muscle on the eastern flank, from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, that NATO is now tensing. And the Bundeswehr is part of it. During the visit, Lambrecht held talks with her Romanian counterpart Vasile Dîncu. He is happy to have the Germans as partners in the country. The US military has sent soldiers and material, the French are increasing their troops. Lambrecht says the allies are sending the signal to Russia “to be prepared and well positioned.” You will not give way, “not a millimeter”.
In Lithuania, the Bundeswehr has been leading one of four NATO battlegroups that have been relocated to the eastern flank since 2017. Other “Battlegroups” are in Latvia, Estonia and Poland. They were a reaction to Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. The Bundeswehr has just increased its contingent in Lithuania by 350 more soldiers and heavy artillery. More soldiers are to come. Additional ships are en route in the Baltic Sea. In Slovakia, the Bundeswehr is involved with infantry and air defense units in setting up another “battle group” that could later be led by Germany.
Germany, says Defense Minister Dincu, is a role model
Here, in Constanta, there were only three Eurofighter, a small contingent that the Luftwaffe moved in February. With the beginning of the war in Ukraine, there were six. The Italians lead the mission and now have eight Eurofighter. The Romanian Air Force helps where it can with its partly outdated fleet. The NATO countries in the East have high expectations of their allies. What is spreading through Germany these days as an unfamiliar feeling – the fear of war – is part of everyday life for countries that have long felt threatened by Russia.
The minister comes strengthened, if you will. Her party colleague, Chancellor Olaf Scholz, announced on Sunday that he wanted to invest an additional 100 billion euros in the Bundeswehr. For years, Berlin had refused to increase defense spending significantly towards two percent of the country’s economic output, as the NATO partners had agreed. Even 1.5 percent were considered ambitious. With the war in Ukraine, Germany is turning into a partner that now even wants to exceed these goals. Romania has long since reached the required two percent and still wants to invest even more. Germany, says Defense Minister Dincu, is a role model.