Germany plans to spend hundreds of millions of euros on new weapons, a move that has long been mulled by the country's government amid a shortage of military equipment.
"Pumping vast financial resources into [Germany's] defense budget won't bring any fundamental improvement, at least in the short run," German military analyst Jürgen Rose told Sputnik.
In his opinion, even if the Ministry of Defense would have access to this money, it would not be able to spend it, because such spending can be done only after much planning and discussion.
"A whole staff of officers and defense officials in the Ministry of Defense have to work out exactly what for and when this money should be spent. And that must be approved on different hierarchical levels. If there is consensus within the ministry and the minister approves it, then it goes to the defense committee and must be discussed and approved all over again," Rose said.
Common EU Army: Possible Solution?
Rose believes that the problems Germany is facing in the military field must be resolved at the European level, rather than on the national level in the Bundeswehr.
In particular, he referred to the idea of a common European army, which was approved in autumn 2017.
"One should take steps to gradually abolish national armies in favor of a European army. The EU has more soldiers than the United States […]. So, we could spend significantly less money on the military, if we would do the spending properly."
450 Million Euros for Modernization
Earlier, German newspaper Handelsblatt reported that the Bundeswehr intends to spend more than €450 million on the modernization of its armed forces in 2018 alone.
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The German army has been repeatedly said to be suffering equipment and staff shortages.
Among other things, the Bundeswehr is to receive new rocket launchers, rescue helicopters and transport aircraft. The list, among many other things, also includes a leasing contract for Israeli Heron TP drones.
