German Armed Forces only have limited access to operational weapons systems: reports

BERLIN, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- An official internal assessment describes a scarcity of operational military equipment in the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr), according to media reports.

German publications "SPIEGEL" and "WELT" both cited the annual report by the Ministry of Defense scheduled to be presented to the German Federal Parliament (Bundestag) on Wednesday. The paper was originally supposed to be released in September 2017 but was postponed as a consequence of national elections that month.

According to the report on the "operational readiness of the Armed Forces' main weapons systems 2017", only 39 out of 128 Eurofighter jets, 26 out of 93 Tornado jets, five out of 13 naval frigates and 105 out of 244 Leopard 2 tanks were ready for use on average during in the past year.

The findings are likely to increase the pressure on Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) who has heard growing criticism for the slow progress of reforms which she promised at the start of her tenure in 2015.

The Ministry of Defense only agreed to release the heavily-delayed official report after persistent lobbying by parliamentarians, a circumstance which added to perceptions that von der Leyen was trying to withhold information which could have proved damaging to the Christian Democratic Union's (CDU) election campaign.

The report emphasized that while the situation was not satisfactory, the availability of operational weapon systems had increased since the beginning of annual evaluations three years ago. The document further stressed that the German Armed Forces were still able to fulfill all of their international commitments.

Nevertheless, "SPIEGEL" questioned how German soldiers would be able to cope with plans to substantially expand the presence of NATO on the border between the European Union (EU) and Russia if they were already operating at the limits of capacity today.

Concerns that Germany had bitten off more than it could chew in terms of its international military activities were underscored by an observation in the report that "higher use of nearly all weapons system" had contributed to a scarcity of functional equipment.

In any case, von der Leyen has already admitted that the situation will not improve meaningfully in the short term. The armed forces would need more "time and money" to complete their process of renewal, the minister recently told members of the parliamentary defense committee. Enditem