Germany plans large-scale readiness check of reserves
German soldier (photo: Getty Images)
In Germany, the head of the reservists' association, Patrick Sensburg, has announced plans to assess the readiness of all reservists in the country, reports Bild.
According to his analysis, to protect the FRG in an emergency, 800,000 soldiers may be needed. This means that in addition to the 200,000 active-duty servicemen, 600,000 reservists are needed.
In addition, Sensburg said, there are currently over 20,000 vacant positions in the armed forces.
He said there are about 900,000 former servicemen or conscripts who have reserve status and are under 65 years old.
"We must quickly record their health status and availability in order to plan them for internal security, national and alliance defense, and allow them to train step by step again," Sensburg said.
In his opinion, the Bundeswehr should increase the number of reservists who currently serve annually from 34,000 to 50,000.
It will be recalled that about a month ago, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius noted that next year the German armed forces could underspend by up to 6 billion euros. According to him, the FRG risks not meeting the NATO quota for military spending at 2% of GDP.
Also recently, the head of the German Ministry of Defense said that the country plans to modernize its army to be ready for war.
