Bundeswehr Restructuring

[kato]

PzBtl 393 just completed its conversion from Leopard 2A6 to Leopard 2A7V.

The A7V are part of the buy-back and upgrade of Leopard 2A4 from industry by the Bundeswehr in order to increase tank numbers back up to 328 total.

PzBtl 393 specifically is assigned to NATO VJTF 2023, and therefore gets the A7V first. Initially "about 30" were delivered in October 2021, the rest now. The time difference is likely because one company for VJTF has been planned to get A7-A1 instead of A7V - i.e. A7V with added Trophy-HV APS. Which means those would have been delivered now.

The delivery frees up a company of Leopard 2A6 that have been shifted over to PzBtl 203, which has been operating a company of pre-series Leopard 2A7. Those 2A7 can then go into the upgrade process to 2A7V.

The next battalion to be re-equipped with A7V is PzLBtl 93. The first batch of five were handed over during a visit by MoD Lambrecht in February this year. Once both battalions are equipped about one company worth goes to the Armor School in Munster. For the rest of the armored troops it's planned to upgrade about half to A7V from existing A6/A6M (presumably: PzBtl 104 and German-Dutch PzBtl 414 as well as the armor company of the Urban Combat Training Center), but that comes later.

[Albany Rifles]

Kato, where is the Urban Combat Training Center located? Is it at Hammelburg? Also do you know what happened to Doughboy City, the Berlin Brigade Training Facility?


BTW this is the pen holder on my desk...got this in 1983 when my battalion was training there at the Officers Club.

[kato]

Kato, where is the Urban Combat Training Center located? Is it at Hammelburg?

It's at the former Soviet training ground Altmark. Described it back on page 8-9:

https://www.worldaffairsboard.com/fo...38#post1572938

They have a mixed battalion that acts as OPFOR, consisting of a tank company (Leopard 2), two mech inf companies (on Marder) and a motorized infantry company (on Fuchs).


The mug is kinda funny. Whoever made it :

• used "Infanterieschule" (it wasn't called that 1962 to 1995, except internally) - the designation in 1983 was "Combat Troop School 1"
• wrote the "S" on it more stylized in a rune sort of way
• modified the coat-of-arms - by turning the all-red shield into the red-and-white coat-of-arms of Franconia.

The Infantry School at Hammelburg is still around. Since 2021 it's also currently called Infanterieschule again like on the mug.

Also do you know what happened to Doughboy City, the Berlin Brigade Training Facility?

The Parks Range training grounds was basically left as wilderness after real estate holding Viveco bought it in 1994, Doughboy City itself on it was torn down. There's currently plans to re-use 39 hectares of Parks Range for new-built housing for 6,000 people and develop the remaining 57 hectares into a public park.

[Albany Rifles]

Thanks Cato....memories.

[kato]

Something for the actual title of the thread ;-)

There's apparently planning documents for a wide-scale "internal reorganization" making the rounds in the Army since June.

Broadly these are aimed towards combining:
- the "Medium Forces" brigade plans
- further integration of the Netherlands
- realizing "Division 2027" and "Heer 2032" long-term structural plans as fast-tracked as possible
- raising readiness to switch to NATO New Force Model under which Germany contributes a full army division
- while of course keeping the number of troops as close to current as possible
- outside artillery mostly achieved by switching battalions around between brigades

Rough structure:

• 1st Armoured Division
  • Divisional Troops : 1 Art Btl, 1 Eng Btl, 1 Support Btl, 1 Security Btl, 1 Signals Btl
  • 9th Armoured Brigade
    • 2 Tank Btl (Leopard 2), 2 Mech Inf Btl (Puma), 1 Art Btl (PzH2000), 1 Eng Btl, 1 Recce Btl, 1 Support Btl
  • 43rd (GE/NL) Mechanized Brigade
    • 1 Tank Btl (Leopard 2), 2 Mech Inf Btl (CV90), 1 Art Btl (PzH2000), 1 Eng Btl, 1 Recce Btl, 1 Support Btl (attached: Dutch infantry btl, reserve)
  • 21st Infantry Brigade ("downgraded")
    • 3 Inf Btl (Boxer), 1 Art Btl (RCH155), 1 Eng Btl, 1 Recce Btl, 1 Support Btl
  • 41st Infantry Brigade ("downgraded")
    • 3 Inf Btl (Boxer), 1 Art Btl (RCH155), 1 Eng Btl, 1 Recce Btl, 1 Support Btl
• 10th Armoured Division
  • Divisional Troops : 1 Art Btl, 1 Eng Btl, 1 Support Btl, 1 Security Btl, 1 Signals Btl
  • 12th Armoured Brigade
    • 2 Tank Btl (Leopard 2), 2 Mech Inf Btl (Puma), 1 Art Btl (PzH2000), 1 Eng Btl, 1 Recce Btl, 1 Support Btl
  • 37th Mechanized Brigade
    • 1 Tank Btl (Leopard 2), 3 Mech Inf Btl (Puma), 1 Art Btl (PzH2000), 1 Eng Btl, 1 Recce Btl, 1 Support Btl
  • 13th (GE/NL) Infantry Brigade (new)
    • 2 Inf Btl (Boxer), 1 Art Btl (RCH155), 1 Eng Btl, 1 Recce Btl, 1 Support Btl (possibly 3rd combat btl, German)
  • Franco-German Infantry Brigade
    • 2 Inf Btl (Boxer), 1 Art Btl (RCH155), 1 Eng Btl, 1 Recce Btl, 1 Support Btl (possibly 3rd combat btl, German)
• DSK Rapid Forces Division
  • Divisional Troops : 1 Art Btl, 1 Eng Btl, 1 Support Btl, 1 Security Btl, 1 Signals Btl
  • 1st Airborne Brigade
    • 3 Inf Btl (Light), 1 Eng Coy, 1 Recce Coy, 1 Support Coy (internal structure switched from current regiments)
  • 11th (NL) Airborne Brigade
    • 3 Inf Btl (Light), 1 Eng Coy, 1 Recce Coy, 1 Support Coy
  • 23rd Mountain Infantry Brigade (moved here from 10th)
    • 3 Inf Btl (Bv206S), 1 Eng Coy, 1 Recce Coy, 1 Support Coy
  • Helicopter Command (Brigade-level)
    • 1 Combat Helo Rgt (Tiger), 2 Transport Helo Rgt (NH90)

Inactive troops not accomodated yet in above. Might form an extra brigade.

[Albany Rifles]

Interesting force structure. Will the NL attached battalion to 43 Mech Bde be mechanized or light infantry?

Thanks Kato

[kato]

Interesting force structure. Will the NL attached battalion to 43 Mech Bde be mechanized or light infantry?

Currently it's a light infantry battalion of the National Reserve. There's a lot not planned out so far with regard to the cooperative integation. Fairly sure no one asked the French about the third German btl for D/F either.

With the 111 additional Puma that supposedly will be ordered "soon" along with existing stock and apparent plans to maintain a maintenance and training reserve for combat vehicles it looks like there'll then be enough Puma around for exactly 8 battalions. That could mean a new (German) mech inf btl on Puma for 43rd Mech Bde to round it out once those come in, and until then just working with what we have without that maintenance reserve.

10 "medium" infantry battalions on Boxer are a bit more problematic numbers-wise, and will likely require some hefty internal restructuring to smaller battalions in addition to new procurement. Given that there's rumours of a reduction of 120 soldiers per battalion ... my personal hunch on this is that they might switch one infantry company per battalion over to new Boxer CRV (30mm turret + Spike ATGM, less dismounts) and thus turn it into a fire support company instead.
The Boxers we do have - including the already ordered Boxer CRV - would then at least numerically be exactly sufficient for the "initial" 8 battalions, including the maintenance and training reserve. Wouldn't be surprised to see a new order for Boxers "soon" to be only another 90-100, would be sufficient to fill up the "additional" battalions for D/F and 13 NL.

It looks like a somewhat elegant plan to both create a bunch of medium brigades as wished for while pressing them into a standardized format with heavier brigades.

[Albany Rifles]

Thanks Kato

Another question for you. In one mf my trips to Germany there were some tests for women to serve in combat arms units. Are you aware of any decision and manning regarding that? In the US we have now allowed women to serve in all areas.

[kato]

There was a woman (Tanja Kreil) who applied for a job as a weapons electronics specialist in 1996. After she was rejected based on the then legal restrictions (medical service only) she sued the government and over the next few years had the case escalated all the way to the European Court of Justice - where she won in 2000, resulting in new regulations being passed. Given that by then she'd been working a civilian job for years she never signed up afterwards btw.

The first 244 women in general service started basic training in January 2001. Currently about 9% of Bundeswehr soldiers in fields other than medical are female (including medical 13%). For soldiers deployed abroad also 9% were female as of October 2020. The "expected" recruitment target number is 15%, they base that on experience of other countries.

Depending on the field and post it took a couple years though until the first women got in of course, partly because you after all do need a couple years to achieve some posts. First female combat pilot got her license in 2007, first female officer on a submarine was posted in 2014. The first (non-transgender) female battalion commander apparently only took her command in 2021 in a logistics battalion.

First female infantry soldier i can find was in JgBtl 292 in D/F Bde in 2008. Served as a platoon commander there, including on Kosovo deployment in 2009. I'm fairly sure there were others before her.

No women have so far managed to get into special forces (KSK or KSM) as a commando soldier due to physical and fitness test requirements; apparently there have been a grand total of seven female applicants in the last twenty years. Last year a woman managed to pass the first of two testing rounds. Among male applicants the rejection rate is 90%. There are women in KSK who serve in recce and other combat roles alongside the commando soldiers though, supposedly a higher percentage than in the general troops.

There's still a lot of underhanded discrimination and prejudice too, both in the troops and in public - mostly from conservatives, and by that i mean the same conservatives that fielded the government the last 15 years. Within the troops, from just googling a bit just now, it seems that if a company commander in a combat battalion is female than that specific company will almost by default turn out to be the training company of that battalion.

Offhand i think the highest-ranked women in the Bundeswehr are a handful Lt.Col. in various roles, i.e. battalion commanders and similar (outside medical service - in medical opened to women in 1975 we have had two female two-star generals in recent years both of which are now retired).


A bit interestingly in the NVA (East-German Military) women could nominally serve in all fields, even if they tended to be shifted towards administrative work or technical roles. They even had a quota there, with about 6-7% of volunteer posts reserved for women. When the Bundeswehr absorbed the NVA in 1990 all ca 48,000 male volunteer soldiers were initially taken over (35,000 of those finished service or were kicked out over the next 3 years) - but literally none of the 2,000 women who were serving in general troops at the time. They all got kicked out due to the medical service only restriction.

[Albany Rifles]

As always, my thanks Kato. As of March this year we have had 100 women graduate from Ranger School. Recently 2 women have graduated from the Special Forces Qualification Course. Not sure where they serving now. From an unofficial polling of folks I am aware of there appear to be more women in Armor & Field Artillery than in the Infantry. Be interesting how things are going forward.

[kato]

The first (non-transgender) female battalion commander

I put that there a bit intentionally btw ;-)

Around the same time as opening all fields to women - but separately from that - the Bundeswehr formally also adopted regulations with regard to transgender soldiers and abolished previous discriminatory regulations with regard to homosexual soldiers (until 2000 homosexuality was a "hindrance" to promotion "for security concerns"). There have been transgender battalion commanders and others of equal or higher rank since then.

It's a topic that irks the conservatives even more than women in the military. And it's a fairly touchy subject with regard to fairly rampant discrimination - i personally (from high school) knew a guy who killed his drill sergeant and himself about 20 years ago due to mobbing over his homosexuality.

Having transgender high-ranking soldiers made some press a couple months ago after a fairly prominent battalion commander lost a case in court trying to combat a formal reprimand for her somewhat promiscuous Tinder profile.

[Officer of Engineers]

Having transgender high-ranking soldiers made some press a couple months ago after a fairly prominent battalion commander lost a case in court trying to combat a formal reprimand for her somewhat promiscuous Tinder profile.

A Bn LCol has a tinder profile? Good God, that is just asking for demotion. Anyone hateful could just fish him into compromising communications.

[kato]

A Bn LCol has a tinder profile? Good God, that is just asking for demotion. Anyone hateful could just fish him into compromising communications.

Fairly sure "being compromised" is not something they could accuse her off - while in Afghanistan she was the CJ6 officer in charge of cybersecurity for TAAC-N. The Tinder profile thing was two years later, and had neither her name nor of course any mention of her service in it. But you could of course recognize her from her picture if you knew her. Another soldier - also using Tinder, and knowing her face - reported her up the command chain.

The court basically worded it the way that the reprimand was justified as - as being in command of close to 1,000 soldiers - she was in a representative position where she had to "mind her professional concerns" with regard to her words and acts. They basically expressed a very traditional image of "an officer leading by example" in private matters as well. In the German public the court decision was mostly received pretty negatively.


The "being compromised" accusation is something that the Bundeswehr - and a court - will always avoid. This is because this exact accusation was leveled against DSACEUR Gen Kießling in 1983 over (false) rumours that he was homosexual. It started public discussions on whether homosexuality presented a security risk as alleged, and the public opinion was mostly against that even back then.
The affair was quietly closed when the government changed and the new chancellor reinstated Kießling, partly to ensure continuity. The head of the "security officer of the Bundeswehr" and a deputy minister that had been pushing the case were "retired" over the affair. There were later some rumours that the East-German Stasi had arranged the affair to remove Kießling - later proven wrong because the exact guy defending Kießling (the deputy head of the "security office of the Bundeswehr") was actually working for the Stasi.

[Albany Rifles]

Fairly sure "being compromised" is not something they could accuse her off - while in Afghanistan she was the CJ6 officer in charge of cybersecurity for TAAC-N. The Tinder profile thing was two years later, and had neither her name nor of course any mention of her service in it. But you could of course recognize her from her picture if you knew her. Another soldier - also using Tinder, and knowing her face - reported her up the command chain.

The court basically worded it the way that the reprimand was justified as - as being in command of close to 1,000 soldiers - she was in a representative position where she had to "mind her professional concerns" with regard to her words and acts. They basically expressed a very traditional image of "an officer leading by example" in private matters as well. In the German public the court decision was mostly received pretty negatively.


The "being compromised" accusation is something that the Bundeswehr - and a court - will always avoid. This is because this exact accusation was leveled against DSACEUR Gen Kießling in 1983 over (false) rumours that he was homosexual. It started public discussions on whether homosexuality presented a security risk as alleged, and the public opinion was mostly against that even back then.
The affair was quietly closed when the government changed and the new chancellor reinstated Kießling, partly to ensure continuity. The head of the "security officer of the Bundeswehr" and a deputy minister that had been pushing the case were "retired" over the affair. There were later some rumours that the East-German Stasi had arranged the affair to remove Kießling - later proven wrong because the exact guy defending Kießling (the deputy head of the "security office of the Bundeswehr") was actually working for the Stasi.

I remember when all of that crap hit the fan when I was stationed over there. And I also remember when the Stasi mole was found out after the wall came down...unfortunately one of way too many.

[kato]

In other news the US has okayed the FMS sale to Germany of:

- 35 F-35A
- 105 AIM-120C8 AMRAAM
- 75 AIM-9X Sidewinder
- 75 AGM-158B2 JASSM-ER
- 344 GBU-53 SDB-II
- 264 GBU-54 LJDAM
- 163 GBU-24 (BLU-109) Paveway III
and a variety of parts, support equipment and documentation

Sidewinders and JASSM should be F-35-specific, we're not using them otherwise.

Our remaining stocks of Sidewinders (AIM-9L) are being rebuilt into light laser-guided air-to-ground missiles. The 600 KEPD-350 Taurus as equivalent cruise missiles to JASSM are being switched over to Eurofighter and not certified on F-35.

AMRAAM are our backups in case we run out of real anti-air missiles (although i think the last "backup" order in 2019 was AIM-120C4, not C8). GBU-54 and GBU-24 are used on Tornado - so those are more restocking.
GBU-53 would be new.

Total worth 8.4 billion USD.

https://www.dsca.mil/press-media/maj...-and-munitions

Not seeing any nuclear support equipment in there btw.