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Major General Andreas Henne speaks in an interview about the rearmament of the Bundeswehr.
© Sina Schuldt/dpa;
Paula Rosa Henkel/Fuldaer Zeitung
Given the growing tensions in world politics, the state of the Bundeswehr is also a current topic.
Major General Andreas Henne comments on this in an interview.
Fulda - How combat-ready is the Bundeswehr?
Major General Andreas Henne, deputy commander of the Bundeswehr's Territorial Command in Berlin, addressed this and other questions on the sidelines of a visit to the Fulda educational company Dr.
Jordan in conversation with fuldaerzeitung.de position.
Rearmament: Major General Andreas Henne sees the Bundeswehr on the right track
The Federal Minister of Defense said in November: “We have to become war worthy!” How war worthy is the Bundeswehr currently?
The question cannot be answered in such a general way.
According to NATO specifications, the forces we have stationed in the Baltics must be ready for immediate action.
These forces are our “tip of the spear,” which is absolutely capable of war.
They have the material, the equipment – everything they need.
The forces from southern Germany, which we are now deploying as part of the major NATO exercise Steadfast Defender, are also capable of fighting.
But the crucial questions are: How war-fighting is the Bundeswehr across the board?
How resilient is society against external attacks?
What conclusion do you come to?
We still have a lot to do when it comes to warfighting across the entire Bundeswehr.
But we also have to do a lot to ensure resilience among the population.
Warfare concerns us all.
With the Germany operations plan and the overall defense plan currently being finalized, we are on the right track, but we are still far from being at the level we once were.
Where is the most missing right now?
Of money and people.
Manpower is a big issue for us, but also in the civilian sector.
Then it's also about alerting options, for example.
We all still have in our minds the nationwide warning day that didn't work a few years ago.
We are now better positioned because the federal government has set up a program for sirens.
It's also about the supply of food and medicine, it's also a question of the health system: which hospitals do we need in the area in order to be able to provide medical care to the population if the worst comes to the worst.
The entire range must be considered.
It is not an issue exclusive to the Bundeswehr, resilience affects us all.
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They said that there is also a lack of manpower.
Should conscription be reintroduced?
It is a political decision.
We as military personnel can prepare the decision by informing politicians how many forces we need to carry out missions.
As of now, we can say: We cannot sustainably carry out the task given to us with the current portfolio of forces without making adjustments.
To person
Andreas Henne (58) is a major general in the army and has been deputy commander of the Bundeswehr's Territorial Command in Berlin since September 26, 2022.
In 1986 he joined the Bundeswehr as an officer candidate.
He studied political and social sciences at the University of the Bundeswehr in Munich and was employed, among other things, as Director of Staff Operations at the headquarters of the Multinational Brigade South of KFOR in Kosovo, at the Ministry of Defense and as a consultant for the defense working group of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group.
In January 2017, Henne became general for location tasks in Berlin at the Territorial Tasks Command of the Bundeswehr and, in September 2020, deputy commander and representative for reservist affairs.
The Federal Minister of Defense Pistorius has just been in Sweden to find out about the military service model there as a possible model for Germany.
A signal?
The fact that Defense Minister Boris Pistorius was in Sweden and had the Swedish model presented, and that many experts argue that we need conscription, leads me to the conclusion that politicians are actively addressing the issue.
Our job is to provide clear military advice on how to complete missions.
For this we need decisions.
One decision could be to reintroduce compulsory military service, but other approaches are also conceivable.
Can we actually still afford the Bundeswehr’s current foreign missions – are our military resources sufficient for this?
There have always been enough resources to carry out the foreign missions that our federal government has agreed to undertake.
However, these were always numerically limited, specially composed contingents in terms of personnel and material.
Now the challenge is different: We have to go into action with homogeneous large units, we are talking about divisions of 12,000 to 15,000 soldiers, closed and fully equipped.
Since our main mission is national defense, it becomes more difficult to secure operations like those in Africa or the Balkans.
We have to set priorities, but we still have to be able to do both and be able to do both.
The national defense capability must include the foreign deployment capability.
To achieve this, our soldiers must be trained to a higher standard than in the past.
Video: Robert Habeck (Greens) speaks out in favor of arming Germany
US presidential candidate Donald Trump has announced that he will no longer support NATO countries that invest less than two percent of gross domestic product in defense.
Does NATO function without the USA?
In my view, the complete withdrawal of the USA is an unrealistic scenario because they have interests in Europe.
Europe is a large economic area and a great democratic partner that stands for the same values as America.
I think you have to understand Trump like this: the US's commitment will be based on strategic priorities.
The Asia and Pacific region and the permeability of the China Sea for global trade will certainly be a focus.
There are also large democracies like Japan or Australia and the entire Oceania that need to be protected.
At the end of the day, Americans certainly won't leave us completely alone, but we must do more.
Finally, the two percent target was also decided jointly by all NATO member states.
In my opinion, Trump wants to tell us: We are no longer the sole guarantors of your security, you have to become more active yourself.
In view of the war in Ukraine, Chancellor Scholz has announced a turning point - the Bundeswehr is to be modernized with 100 billion euros.
Will this money be enough?
I see it again from the perspective of the military planner: We have a mission and we need equipment for it.
What we need and what we have in terms of financial resources do not yet match.
This results in demands.
If we demand full equipment and war capability, then we need more financial resources.
The Defense Minister also demanded this from Parliament.
(by Paula Rosa Henkel)
Due to his position, Major General Andreas Henne was unable to comment on questions about the Ukraine war and the current Taurus debate.