German Bundeswehr

Larso66

Member
I am curious about the situation with Germany's airborne forces. It appears there is a 1st Airborne Brigade and it has essentially two battalions, the 26th and 31st - am I correct? The material on the net is unclear and I can't read German.
 

kato

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
The 1st Airborne Brigade consists of two regiments (not battalions), the 26th and 31st Paratrooper Regiments.

The regiments each consist of 11 companies:
  1. / Staff, HQ and Support Company
  2. / Specialized Forces
  3. / Specialized Forces
  4. / Paratroopers
  5. / Paratroopers
  6. / Paratroopers
  7. / Fire Support
  8. / Supply
  9. / Medical
  10. / Basic Training (only in 31st)
  11. / Reservists
The regiments were assembled from three previous battalions each (two paratrooper battalions and an airborne support battalion). Overall strength of each regiment is about 1800 men, i.e. significantly more than battalion size.

For brigade-level troops the 1st Airborne Brigade additionally has two airborne reconnaissance companies (260 and 310) and two airborne engineer companies (260 and 270).
 

STURM

Well-Known Member
Two members of the Bundeswehr are currently in Malaysia undergoing a 6 week jungle training course by the Malaysian army's Combat Traning Centre's Jungle Warfare Wing. Never thought "flecktarn" would ever be seen in the Malaysian jungle.
 

kato

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
Never thought "flecktarn" would ever be seen in the Malaysian jungle.
Usually jungle warfare training is done with the British Army, at training sites in Belize (KSK training with SAS there) and rather next-door to Malaysia in Brunei (at JWIC). I think the Brunei thing is relatively new. Due to the units involved it tends to not be publicized.

D/F Brigade troops have also sent some on training to Noumea (New Caledonia) for the French jungle commando course.
 
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kato

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
Loyal, the internal newspaper of the German Reservist Organization, has collected the current Army reform planning with some inside info into a fairly simple structure diagram:


Just scroll down a bit to the diagram. The diagram does not include reserves, these are the active troops.

They got to invent a couple new tactical symbols for this, most people should be able to figure out what they mean.

The structure portrayed basically encapsulates:
  • Unifying the Army structure into an operational force structure for NATO New Force Model asap
  • Realizing the "medium forces" concepts of the inspector general of the army, even if some consider them somewhat controversial.
  • Keeping the overall numbers as close as possible to what we have now. Can't increase in size when you don't find recruits now already.
  • Utilizing further integration with the Koninklijke Landmacht to round out the structure (not sure if they actually asked them though...).

Realization is planned in two steps :
  • Modifying 10th Armoured Division to the target structure (due to fewer changes) by 2025 so that the division can then be declared ready within the contect of NATO NFM.
  • In parallel restructuring 1st Armoured Division to the target structure by 2026 so that NFM assignment can then be switched over.
  • There is no target date for the Rapid Forces Division. Most changes there are only somewhat cosmetic though, i.e. the troops are already there.
 

kato

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
P.S. as notes on that structure:
  • There's a regiment abbreviated "KrDispNatKV". These are the specialized force companies from 1st Airborne Brigade placed into a cut-down 31st Airborne Regiment, in order to transform 1st Airborne Brigade - dissolving 26th Airborne Regiment - into a "proper" standard airborne infantry brigade with three paratrooper battalions. 31st Airborne Regiment as KrDispNatKV serves for specialized national-command missions such as military responses to hostage-taking abroad, supporting KSK in larger operations against high-value targets or military evacuation of civilians; unlike KSK they are on those missions "officially" and publicly though. Example mission that they were sent on - in full, pretty much - was Kabul Airport last year.
  • The rightmost brigade box titled "KorpsTr" are corps troops, consisting of a helicopter brigade and some other units.
  • Most new units in the overall layout go to two new bases, Osterheide (former British Base) at the Bergen training grounds and Bautzen (agreed upon as compensation for intending to end lignite mining in the area).
 

Big_Zucchini

Well-Known Member
Israeli PM Lapid to travel to Germany to push acquisition of Arrow 3 anti ballistic missile system.

The article specifies the Iskander as a threat, however it is a very odd choice considering Arrow 3 is an exoatmospheric system best suited for threats that have a protracted flight period outside the atmosphere, like IRBMs and ICBMs.
  • Iskander is an SRBM, and its high altitude flight period is very short.
  • More suitable for it are systems like the older and lower altitude Arrow 2, or the lower tier David's Sling.
 
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kato

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
Since it just came up for me on this very website:

IAI is flanking this "push" with a banner ad campaign via Google Ad Services for its "Multilayer Solutions for Air and Ballistic Missile Defense" - in German, played out to a defence-centric audience (probably fitting a certain ad profile) in German-language countries.
iai.jpg

It links to a webpage of the European office of IAI - probably the only page in German - where a number of products (*) of the company have been put together which the company "sees as aligned with the needs of Germany". The German part ends with exactly the page linked by the ad, product pages linked from it are the regular ones on IAI's website. The ad campaign likely started yesterday on Sep 2nd.

--
(*) Products linked on that page are, as a full list: Heron-TP (UCAV, in Bundeswehr service), Arrow 3 (BMD), Rotem (loitering munition), Scorpius-SJ (airborne jammer), Othello-P (gunfire detection system), OPAL (BMS cloud), TacCell (4G/5G tactical communications), ELM-2026B (SHORAD radar) and ADA (GNSS-focused ECCM). In addition the general space division of IAI is linked.
 
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John Fedup

The Bunker Group

ngatimozart

Super Moderator
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
If the Germans went with the Chinook 2 they would have greater range, lift capability, and fuel economy.
 

kato

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
If the Germans went with the Chinook 2 they would have greater range, lift capability, and fuel economy.
The contract is for Block 2 with "customer-specific modifications".

The customer-specific modifications are primarily for air-to-air refueling, but also includes a number of packages that are not part of the "standard" off-the-shelf Chinook and had been back-fitted to US-operated CH-47 in the last 10-15 years (examples: EAPS for operations in dusty/sandy areas, ERFS extended fuel tanks or HUSLE secure load system for oversized external loads).
 

MarcH

Member
The contract is for Block 2 with "customer-specific modifications".

The customer-specific modifications are primarily for air-to-air refueling, but also includes a number of packages that are not part of the "standard" off-the-shelf Chinook and had been back-fitted to US-operated CH-47 in the last 10-15 years (examples: EAPS for operations in dusty/sandy areas, ERFS extended fuel tanks or HUSLE secure load system for oversized external loads).
The complete list of eqipment can be found here:
augengeradeaus.net
 

StingrayOZ

Super Moderator
Staff member
Is there a reason why Rheinmetall Defense Australia (RDA) will build the GTK Boxers for the Bundeswehr and not a German assembly line?

Production Bottleneck, trade, politics.
 
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