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  • Not seeing any nuclear support equipment in there btw.

    Perhaps they can use current support equipment with software/firmware upgrades...just supposition on my part. I do know there have been several US munitions upgrades which only needed the software/firmware upgrade...specifically all the variety of MLRS/GMLRS.
    “Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.”
    Mark Twain

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    • It's likely because any nuclear support equipment for those F-35 would be fielded by a US detachment due to the nature of NATO Nuclear Sharing.

      Plus the F-35 isn't certified for B-61 use yet either way.

      Comment


      • Originally posted by kato View Post
        There's apparently planning documents for a wide-scale "internal reorganization" making the rounds in the Army since June.
        Now with tactical symbols and in my opinion a bit too much color:

        Click image for larger version  Name:	Zielstruktur_Heer_01-1.png Views:	0 Size:	634.4 KB ID:	1590988

        Comes from the internal newspaper "loyal" of the German Reservist Association. They tend to be "fairly informed".

        The slightly weird infantry symbol on some infantry brigades and battalions is apparently for "Wheeled Mechanized Infantry" with a focus on the infantry bit, i.e. the Boxer-based infantry units.

        Main change from what i described earlier is that the 31st Paratrooper Regiment is turned into the 31st "KrDispNatKV" Regiment - "Force Assignment for National Crisis Response". Basically that's the specialized forces within the current paratrooper regiments set aside into their own unit. This is not merged with the KSK special forces. A bit notably KSK is split into "commando" and "support" battalions to break up the current command span overload of the "brigade" command with 16 companies directly under it.

        The brigade all the way too the right is marked as "KorpsTr", i.e. "Corps Troops". That one should probably for proper reading be split in the middle - presumably they do not plan to put an amphibious engineer battalion into a helicopter brigade.

        Interesting tidbit is that 41st Infantry Brigade does not get three "wheeled mechanized infantry" battalions - but two. Their third battalion is formed by the mixed OPFOR battalion at GÜZ at the Schnöggersburg urban combat training site.

        The planning is that 10th Armoured Division hands over 23th Mountain Infantry (there's relatively little other changes) and provisionally becomes the assigned division for NATO New Force Model in 2025. Meanwhile 1st Armoured Division will be rebuilt to the above target structure in parallel to "switch into" NFM by 2027.
        Last edited by kato; 08 Aug 22,, 18:53.

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        • Yeah, it all makes sense. And I understand the Wheeled Infantry symbology. We use a variation for our Stryker units.

          Thanks
          “Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.”
          Mark Twain

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          • Originally posted by kato View Post
            Main change from what i described earlier is that the 31st Paratrooper Regiment is turned into the 31st "KrDispNatKV" Regiment - "Force Assignment for National Crisis Response". Basically that's the specialized forces within the current paratrooper regiments set aside into their own unit. This is not merged with the KSK special forces.
            P.S., since the description is not quite clear:

            The KrDispNatKV are the guys responsible for military evacuation of civilians and military response to hostage situations abroad, as well as for retrieving isolated soldiers in combat theaters and similar tasks. In addition they are used in infantry operations against high-value targets and serve as advance parties for larger airdrops of e.g. the full brigade. Depending on situation they deploy together or in support of a KSK special forces mission, but unlike KSK they'll generally be there "officially" in public.

            While nominally - by planning - there are four socalled EGB ("enhanced basic capability") companies available, the actual composition of it is a single specialized forces company backed up by three regular paratrooper companies (and a heavy company). They were the ones that we e.g. sent to Kabul to secure the evacuations last year.

            Currently these forces are embedded in the two airborne infantry regiments within 1st Airborne Brigade, with the actual composition forming the nucleus of 31st Airborne Regiment.

            The plan seems to be to take all other assets available at the base 31st Airborne is at in Seedorf and combine these assets into two new battalions (paratrooper btl and divisional recce btl) while retaining their basing there. These other assets beyond the "KrDispNatKV" would currently be a paratrooper company, a medical company, a logistics company, an airborne recce company, an airborne engineer company, a basic training company and a reserve company (some of these contribute individual platoons or elements to the KrDispNatKV right now).


            The chart includes (provisional) stationing for most new units. In many cases these are simply where existing units renamed or cut to shape already are. In some cases it's more of an opportunity thing - e.g. the new recce company for 23rd Mountain Infantry Brigade going to Altenstadt; there's a NCO training battalion there which is losing its basic training company due to a realignment of training, so they have space for a single company there.

            Some of the stationing decisions are rather weird though without background. For example Bautzen for two artillery battalions. That would be an entirely new base - Bautzen hosted the officer school of the NVA, the Bundeswehr sold off the real estate in 1994 and never had any troops there. The establishment of this base - "somewhere in the Lausitz region" - was agreed upon last year as a compensation measure for federal steps towards ending lignite mining there. Except that base isn't supposed to be built before 2031. And only for 1000 soldiers. Osterheide - three new battalions - is a former British base adjacent to the Bergen training grounds handed back in 2015, so i guess they only need to completely renovate there. And switch out all electrical systems.

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            • The Luftwaffe for next week is planning a mission similar to France's HEIFARA deployment last year, called RAPID PACIFIC 2022.

              It is planned that this monday a group of 6 Eurofighter, 4 A400M and 3 A330 MRTT will deploy over 12,800 km to Singapore within 24 hours. Unlike the French exercise the aircraft will then be based in the region for around 2 months and deploy to a number of exercises with various partners. First ones back-to-back will be PITCH BLACK and KAKADU in Australia while being based out of Darwin for about a month, but they also plan to hold exercises with the Singaporean Air Force and have aircraft visit both Japan and South Korea later on.

              France apparently couldn't have one put up on them and is concurrently running PEGASE 22. This is basically the same thing, deploying 3 Rafale, 2 A400M and 2 A330 MRTT over 16,600 km to New Caledonia for later participation in PITCH BLACK. Unlike the Luftwaffe deployment above they're giving themselves 72 hours this time though - probably due to not switching out the pilots enroute (like Germany will, in Abu Dhabi) and instead letting them have an overnight rest (in India, the night before last).

              Both Rapic Pacific and Pegase (like Heifara last year) are single-stopover flights otherwise, with around 8-10 inflight refuelings of the group by the accompanying MRTTs.
              Last edited by kato; 12 Aug 22,, 13:40.

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              • Hope the pilots & crews don't mind the heat & humidity. ;)

                Nice to see Germany getting out & playing with its friends.
                sigpic

                Win nervously lose tragically - Reds C C

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                • Originally posted by kato View Post
                  The Bundeswehr is getting new camping gear:
                  Seen a report by an artillery officer whose unit got the new gear two weeks ago and promptly tried it out.

                  He considers the tents "functional and very usable" three-season gear especially for setting up in assembly areas, with a lot of components that can actually be utilized. From his perspective criticism of it mostly stems from a lack of training and experience with that part of a combat deployment among soldiers nowadays. After all due to time concerns during peacetime exercises the "assembly area" part often ends with just having some security patrols set up and only goes for up to half a day and never overnight.

                  His main criticism is that the tents aren't self-bearing and effectively have to be tied down to be stable, which can be a bit complicated especially at night. In particular the large tent definitely needs to be tied down as it's relatively light and wind-susceptible.

                  He also wonders slightly about the set not having plates for the soldies included - so you still have to eat out of the MRE bags and can't also fully utilize the included cooking gear for other food. He consides it great though that he can now order wet wipes through the logistics system.

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                  • New Caledonia is another 6000 odd kms from SG. Long time to be sitting and not shitting.
                    Ego Numquam

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                    • They arrived two hours ago. Apparently they did a second stopover in Australia: https://twitter.com/Armee_de_lair/st...92314627854338

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                      • Originally posted by kato View Post
                        They arrived two hours ago. Apparently they did a second stopover in Australia: https://twitter.com/Armee_de_lair/st...92314627854338
                        Those gotta be sone sore asses!!!
                        “Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.”
                        Mark Twain

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                        • The German aircraft accomplished their mission ("24 hours to Singapore"). They did it in 20 hours 22 minutes.

                          One of the Eurofighters was left behind with a hydraulic failure in Abu Dhabi though. They're flying in a repair crew and spare parts to enable it to rejoin the group in Australia "in time for Pitch Black".

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                          • Originally posted by kato View Post
                            The territorial defense regiments being stood up will be placed under a new separate command, the "Territorial Command of the Bundeswehr" which will be established this October.
                            For the inauguration of this command now the Bundeswehr has announced they'll expand its forces further beyond the original planning. The command gets a sixth "home protection" infantry regiment to be located in Lower Saxony state.

                            Supposedly "experiences from recent large exercises of Allies, findings from the Ukraine War and a review of new NATO planning" led to "a reassessment of defense structures for the north and northwest German area", necessitating the additional regiment to "secure overseas reinforcement forces and training and readying areas" there.

                            From which one could draw some conclusions on how NATO assesses the ability of Russia to project naval forces into the GIUK gap and the North Sea (... or lack thereof).

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                            • Berlin lags on defence purchases after 100 billion euro pledge - sources

                              BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany is struggling to ramp up defence procurement or even just replace arms and munitions it has supplied to Kyiv, several sources told Reuters eight months after Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged 100 billion euros to bring the military up to speed.

                              "There is almost no movement at all," a source involved in German defence procurement procedures said on Thursday, adding very few orders had been placed so far.

                              The source was echoed by managers in the defence industry who expressed disappointment at what they see as the government's sluggishness in replenishing the Bundeswehr's inventories, caused by slow procedures and a lack of decisions at the top level.

                              "We would have expected to see many more orders by now," one defence industry manager, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.

                              "There is a war raging in Ukraine but procedures here are still running in peace-time mode, while inflation is eating up the money," another defence manager said.

                              NATO allies have criticised Berlin strongly in the past for not reaching the alliance's 2% military spending target and relying on the United States for its security while not sharing the financial burden.

                              In a major policy shift days after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February, Scholz announced a 100 billion euro special fund to bring the Bundeswehr's weapons and equipment back up to standard after decades of attrition following the end of the Cold War.

                              But the first source said defence procurement was not moving fast enough by far given the war in Ukraine and the deterioration of the security situation.

                              "Contracts for some ammunitions have been approved but that's just a drop in the ocean compared to what we actually need," the source noted.

                              Among other things, there has been no progress in efforts to replace 14 self-propelled howitzers and 13,500 rounds of artillery ammunition that Berlin supplied to Ukraine from Bundeswehr inventories, the person underscored.

                              "(Finance Minister Christian) Lindner hasn't yet given the green light for the money to be spent," the source said, pointing out that the replacement of equipment passed on to Kyiv was to be partially funded from the general budget, which is under Lindner's control, rather than the defence budget.

                              The finance ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

                              The problems do not only affect the replacement of military gear handed over to Kyiv, however. There is also a lack of progress in filling shortfalls that existed long before the war and which are seen as much more precarious now, the person said.

                              As examples, the source singled out the need for short-range air defence systems used to protect military convoys as well as for medium-range air defence systems such as IRIS-T SLM which Berlin has supplied to Kyiv but not yet ordered for its own forces.

                              These projects will have to be paid from the 100 billion euro special fund which has only been tapped to a very small extent so far, the person said without giving exact figures.

                              One of the first major defence deals to be paid from the special fund will likely be the purchase of the U.S. fighter jet F-35 which is to be presented to parliament for approval before the end of the year, according to earlier information by the defence ministry.
                              _______
                              “He was the most prodigious personification of all human inferiorities. He was an utterly incapable, unadapted, irresponsible, psychopathic personality, full of empty, infantile fantasies, but cursed with the keen intuition of a rat or a guttersnipe. He represented the shadow, the inferior part of everybody’s personality, in an overwhelming degree, and this was another reason why they fell for him.”

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                              • Originally posted by TopHatter View Post
                                "We would have expected to see many more orders by now," one defence industry manager, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.
                                Which is kinda funny since this comes days after an interview with Armin Papperger (CEO of Rheinmetall) in which he is very satisfied with the ordering situation and with Bundeswehr procurement agency BAAInBW. With a quote of "We at Rheinmetall are currently negotiating more contracts than ever before".

                                In that intervierw he does tease some major procurement projects that the company is currently negotiating towards with BAAInBw and expecting to finalize soon, in particular for
                                - ammunition framework contract worth 5-8 billion (not from 100 billion fund)
                                - logistics vehicle framework contract worth the same amount (not from 100 billion fund either)
                                - the planned Puma S1 upgrade (2 billion iirc - plus negotiations about a second tranche)
                                - new wheeled APCs (4 billion - that one was cut this week, the 800 Fuchs will soldier on for a bit)
                                - fire support platform (Boxer CRV)
                                - replacement for Mungo airborne transport vehicles (joint project with Netherlands - the three bidders were asked to submit their final bids this week)

                                Originally posted by TopHatter View Post
                                Among other things, there has been no progress in efforts to replace 14 self-propelled howitzers and 13,500 rounds of artillery ammunition that Berlin supplied to Ukraine from Bundeswehr inventories, the person underscored.
                                Not to be paid from the 100 billion fund. In fact officially those are not to be replaced anyway - they'll likely hide it underneath some other procurement contract.

                                Originally posted by TopHatter View Post
                                As examples, the source singled out the need for short-range air defence systems used to protect military convoys as well as for medium-range air defence systems such as IRIS-T SLM which Berlin has supplied to Kyiv but not yet ordered for its own forces.
                                The IRIS-T SLM systems sold to Ukraine is the production run that was originally being produced Egypt, and thus available at Diehl stocked up.
                                The main effort of the German government there was to pressure Egypt into defering delivery, and Diehl then selling that stock.

                                Originally posted by TopHatter View Post
                                One of the first major defence deals to be paid from the special fund will likely be the purchase of the U.S. fighter jet F-35 which is to be presented to parliament for approval before the end of the year, according to earlier information by the defence ministry.
                                _______
                                The first one to be paid from the fund (according to the Papperger interview) is a 300 million contract for personal protective equipment (part of a total expenditure of around 4 billion in that field).
                                Last edited by kato; 29 Oct 22,, 05:53.

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