Luftwaffe/German Air Force News, Discussions & Updates

[kato]

Germany one step closer to acquiring CH-47Fs to replace their fleet of CH-53Gs
Package includes 60 airframes, 140 engines and associated aircraft systems.
Reported that once negotiations are finalized and contracts signed it should take three years to complete delivery

The parliamentary budget committee signed off on the CH-47F FMS buy this week, with deep-running reservations about both the contract and its cost. The main problem to parliament is that CH-47F Block II as negotiated does not have certification by the US Army (yet).

The signed-off budget is 7.2 billion Euro for the FMS contract and 750 million Euro for related infrastructure costs. As a condition for the funding parliament has formally obliged the Bundeswehr to annually report on infrastructure development for this, as well as to ensure an aircraft availability of 70% for CH-47F with required reporting whenever falling below this line.

 

[At lakes]

German air force plans major Asia-Pacific tour in 2024

France and Spain are also slated to send aircraft for training visits, putting a "European face" on the summer deployment, the German air force chief said.

www.defensenews.com

The German Air Force is planning a major deployment in 2024 they will be accompanied units from Spain and France with a maybe on Italy and the UK. Participation in RIMPAC and later in Australia Pitch Black

 

[kato]

While it's not only Air Force:

The defense committee and budget committee today signed off on a purchase of 62 H145M plus 20 optional plus 24 weapon kits (H-FORCE) for them. Project cost is 2.1 billion Euro.

The primary purpose of these new helicopters will be to provide a light (cheap) airframe for keeping pilot flight hours up. Additionally they are planned for liaison and observation roles. The helicopters are going to the Army (48 incl. 24 armed) and Air Force (14?). The Air Force already operates 15 H145M for transport purposes for special forces; the Army has 7 H145 (not M) for SAR. The 20 optional ones in the new procurement would likely partially be a fallback option for the Navy, which has stated previously that they would prefer to keep their current service provider model (i.e. renting civilian helicopters).

 

[Masquerader]

Germany last April passed new laws proclaiming June 15 as its own Veterans Day. Thus, I'm curious if the Luftwaffe recently held its first Veterans Day celebration this month because it will find it customary to honor Luftwaffe airmen who flew combat sorties over Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo in Panavia Tornado fighter-bombers by stressing how the conduct of the air war over those countries in the Balkans by Luftwaffe Tornado aircraft in the 1990s was about protecting Bosnian and Kosovar civilians from harm's way, in sharp contrast to Hitler's Luftwaffe indiscriminately bombing civilian population centers in cities in the Balkans during the Nazi invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941 in violation of international conventions regarding war.

 

[kato]

I'm curious if the Luftwaffe recently held its first Veterans Day celebration this month

a) The first actual Veteran's Day will be held in 2025. There was a smallish reception held by political parties in the Federal Parliament to mark the occasion this year.

b) Under German definition of "Veteran" for this event any soldier who is serving or has honorably served in the Bundeswehr is considered a veteran (and before someone asks, yes, this excludes Wehrmacht soldiers and NVA soldiers who did not serve in the Bundeswehr). That's about 10 million people, of which half a million have served on missions outside Germany. This - external - wide-reaching definition is due to the Bundeswehr, the Ministry of Defense, the German Soldiers' Association and the German Reservist Association being unable to find a common definition for over five years.

c) There will not be any honoring or other activities specifically towards any "section" of veterans or any historical timeframe in the context of this "Veteran's Day" event, nor will there be any assessment or appraisement of such historical timeframes or the action of veterans during those. The (sole) purpose of the event is raising awareness to the continued existance of people who have served the country and its population in its armed forces, no matter in which way. Germany's "Veteran's Day" is broadly comparable to the "Armed Forces Day" of other countries.

d) The event is not intended as a celebration by the Bundeswehr and its soldiers, but for the Bundeswehr and its soldiers. Sorta. In reality none of the related organizations really have much of an idea "how" to celebrate it or "what" to celebrate. The date, June 15th, was chosen pretty much at random and refers to June 15th 2019 when the "Veteran's Badge" was first handed out. That "Veteran's Badge" itself is largely ignored by existing veterans btw, less than 1% of those eligible to get one applied for it.

 

[kato]

The first IRIS-T SLM system has been transferred from Diehl to BAAInBw as a prototype. It is planned to use this unit for final acceptance and troop trials before transferring it to the Luftwaffe for operational use in late 2025.

The acceptance trials and troop trials are necessary because Diehl hat to basically rewrite the software interfaces to make IRIS-T SLM compatible with the NATO integrated air and missile defence networks (and i guess you can guess what that means for earlier units delivered to Ukraine).