Latest news with #Bundeswehr
Business Insider
2 days ago
- Politics
- Business Insider
Russia is making so many Iranian Shahed drones that it could soon launch 2,000 of them in a single night
The Kremlin is building its way toward a reality where it can soon launch 2,000 Shahed one-way attack drones in one night, according to two recent Western assessments. Maj. Gen. Christian Freuding, the German defense ministry's commander of planning and command staff, said in a Bundeswehr interview aired on Saturday that Russia was "striving to further increase production capacity" of its Shaheds. "They want to expand the drone attacks we just talked about," Freuding said. "The ambition is to be able to deploy 2,000 drones simultaneously." "We need to consider intelligent countermeasures," he added. In a separate assessment on Sunday, the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, wrote that Russia's per-night use of Shahed drones increased by 31% each month in June and July. "ISW assesses that Russia may be able to launch up to 2,000 drones in one night by November 2025, should this current growth trend in drone usage continue," its analysts wrote. However, they added that Russia likely wouldn't be able to consistently sustain 2,000 drone launches per day. Still, such capacity would be a stark jump from the fall of 2024, when Russia was launching roughly 2,000 drones a month at Ukraine. Shaheds are long-range Iranian exploding drones with estimated ranges of 600 to 1,200 miles, depending on the design. This year, Russia has continually increased the number of Shaheds and decoy drones it launches a night at Ukraine, recently peaking at 728 uncrewed aerial vehicles in one salvo earlier this month. Russia's Shahed production on the rise As these numbers surge, Ukraine and its allies fear that Russia's nightly attacks will overwhelm Kyiv's air defenses. "There will be 1,000 units per day and more. I'm not trying to scare anyone," wrote Robert "Madyar" Brovdi, commander of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, wrote on July 4 about Russia's Shahed capacity. The Shahed is of Iranian design, but Russia has also been manufacturing its own versions of the drone locally in the Yelabuga Special Economic Zone since early 2023. Western governments and analysts say some vital parts for production come from China. In April, analysts from the International Institute for Strategic Studies wrote that satellite imagery showed that the area of Shahed-producing facilities has doubled since 2023. "Despite a steady flow of Shahed-136s from Iran, Moscow is heavily investing in its own production facilities," the IISS analysts wrote. Ukraine has periodically tried to strike Yelabuga with its own long-range fixed-wing drones, but it's unclear if the factories have sustained any significant damage. Kyiv's military intelligence also said in February that it had found production markings on some attack drones that mention the city of Izhevsk, possibly pointing to another production line there. NATO and Ukraine need cheaper defenses Freuding, the German general, said that against such quantity, it would be nonsensical to rely on expensive Western interceptors such as the Patriot system to destroy Shaheds. "We essentially need countermeasures that cost two, three, four thousand euros," he said. By comparison, a single Patriot system costs the US government $1.1 billion, and one of its missiles can cost about $4 million. Ukraine now uses a multilayered air defense network against Shahed waves, including surface-to-air missiles, air-launched missiles, and mobile fire groups that try to shoot down the Iranian drones with machine guns. A locally made interceptor drone, the Sting, is becoming popular, too. But Russia also fires ballistic missiles in tandem with the Shahed drones, and these require more advanced, long-range air defenses such as the Patriot to intercept. Kyiv is trying to persuade the US and its allies to provide it with more Patriot systems.
Russia Today
3 days ago
- Politics
- Russia Today
German general urges Ukraine to strike Russian airfields
Ukraine should consider striking Russian airfields and weapons factories deep inside the country to alleviate pressure on the front, a senior German general has suggested. Speaking during a Bundeswehr podcast on Saturday, Major General Christian Freuding, who oversees Germany's military assistance to Ukraine, gave Kiev advice on weakening Russia's offensive power. 'You can also indirectly affect the offensive potential of Russian strike forces before they are deployed,' Freuding said. 'Use long-range air warfare assets to strike aircraft and airfields before they are used. Also, target weapons production facilities.' Freuding also lamented that despite Western sanctions, Russia has increased its production of drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic systems. 'We must reconsider whether our economic measures have been sufficient and where we can apply further pressure, particularly to limit Russian production capabilities,' he said. The general also pointed to the limitations of US-made Patriot air defense missiles against waves of Russian drones. 'It [a drone] costs around €30,000-50,000 ($34,000–58,000) depending on the model. It's wasteful to shoot it down with a Patriot missile costing over €5 million. We need countermeasures that cost €2,000–€4,000, especially as Russia aims to further increase its production capacity,' he explained. Last year, the administration of former US President Joe Biden authorized Ukraine to use American long-range weapons to strike inside Russia, though with significant restrictions on range and target selection. Media reports at the time indicated that Kiev was not allowed to hit major Russian airfields. Meanwhile, Freuding confirmed earlier this month that Ukraine would receive the first batch of long-range missiles financed by Berlin before the end of July. Germany, however, has been reluctant to send Taurus long-range missiles due to escalation concerns. Earlier this month, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Germany was becoming 'dangerous again,' after German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that Bundeswehr troops must be prepared to 'kill' Russian soldiers if necessary. Moscow also accused the German leadership of supporting 'confrontation' and pursuing an 'aggressive mobilization of Europe against Russia.'
Telegraph
5 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
It's time to arm Germany again
For generations of self-respecting Europeans, any talk of 'German rearmament' would once have caused their blood to run cold, particularly if they happened to be Germans. The popular attitude of the post-War era was summarised by the French Nobel Laureate, Francois Mauriac, who wrote: 'I love Germany so much that I am glad there are two of them.' Many Germans doubted whether their country could be trusted with military firepower. In 1955 the Social Democratic Party (SPD) passionately opposed the creation of their country's new armed forces, the Bundeswehr. But in today's Europe, menaced by the twin threats of Russian aggression and American isolationism, everything is different. When Sir Keir Starmer welcomed Friedrich Merz, the German Chancellor, to London on Thursday, the two leaders signed the first Anglo-German treaty since the Second World War. I can sum up the Kensington Treaty very simply. Britain is completely in favour of German rearmament and hopes that it will happen as rapidly as possible. We look forward to the day when new panzer divisions are deployed on as many European frontiers as possible. We are extremely glad that Germany possesses an air force capable of dropping nuclear bombs and we will help to make them even better at this task. 'The Parties,' reads the treaty, 'shall pursue deep exchanges on strategic aspects of security policy' including 'nuclear issues'. What would some of Sir Keir's predecessors have made of this remarkable text? During the Berlin Crisis in 1958, Harold Macmillan said that Britain would not risk coming to blows with the Soviet Union 'for two million of the people we twice fought wars against and who almost destroyed us'. Never mind Nato's obligation to defend West Berlin, Macmillan was still troubled by what Germany had done to Britain, and perhaps by the pain of the three wounds he had suffered in the trenches of the First World War. Margaret Thatcher spent her last year in office trying to delay German reunification, occasionally encouraged by a cynical French president, Francois Mitterrand, himself a former inmate of a German prison camp. So there is a certain irony in Mr Merz saying that he was 'surprised' that Thursday's treaty was the first since 1945. He seems not to realise that, until quite recently, British Prime Ministers would have been deeply ambivalent about signing any such agreement. Today there is a strategic imperative to set all of this aside. Europe will never be able to defend itself against Vladimir Putin's Russia unless Germany, the continent's biggest economy and industrial powerhouse, sets about rearming. At the Nato summit in The Hague last month, Mr Merz and every other ally agreed to spend 3.5 per cent of GDP on defence and another 1.5 per cent on security by 2035. Even if you doubt whether those targets will be achieved, Germany is still on a path to building Europe's most formidable army and becoming, once again, the continent's foremost land power. So there is every reason for Britain to strengthen its alliance with Germany, just as we have with France. If America is unreliable, then Europe's big three are going to have to stand together. But I wonder if Sir Keir and his advisers have grasped the full significance of Germany's impending re-emergence as a great military power? Britain's privileged influence in Nato has rested on our possession of Europe's biggest defence budget. Yet, last year, Germany overtook Britain to spend €90.6 billion (£78 billion) on defence, fully 20 per cent more than the UK's £64.6 billion, according to Nato figures. Given that Germany's economy is 40 per cent bigger than Britain's, that gap will almost certainly grow wider. If Germany keeps the deal to spend 3.5 per cent of GDP on core defence, then Britain would have to invest 4.9 per cent just to keep pace - more than double the current level – which is surely unrealistic. German rearmament means that Britain has already lost its place as Europe's biggest defence spender, probably permanently. In time, that must inevitably lead to a reduction in our relative weight inside Nato. So by all means cheer the rebirth of German military power, but remember that despite all the bonhomie between them, Sir Keir is conceding influence to Mr Merz.
Russia Today
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
German president calls for universal military conscription
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has urged a nationwide debate about reinstating military conscription, stressing that Berlin needs to strengthen its armed forces amid what he described as escalating security threats in Europe. Compulsory military service was suspended in Germany in 2011. Although inactive, the legal framework for a draft remains intact and can be reactivated by a simple parliamentary majority. A full-scale return, including women, however, would require changes to the constitution. Speaking to ZDF on Sunday, Steinmeier said Germany must prepare for the possibility that voluntary enlistment will fall short of staffing requirements for the army. 'I am an advocate of conscription because I believe that with the changing security situation in Europe, with the fact that a war is taking place, and with the conclusions we have drawn from it to better protect ourselves, the personnel equipment of the Bundeswehr also needs to be adapted,' he said. He expressed support for Defense Minister Boris Pistorius' proposal to expand troop numbers and create a backup draft system. The plan aims for around 5,000 volunteer recruits annually, rising to 30,000 by 2029. Legislation which is being prepared for cabinet review in August with possible enactment by early 2026 includes provisions to automatically reintroduce conscription if volunteer numbers fall short. 'We need this debate now, preferably with a positive outcome, so that if there are not enough volunteers, we will probably return to a different form of conscription than the one we have already abolished,' Steinmeier said. Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, Germany has been working to strengthen its military, citing what it sees as a security threat from Russia. Moscow has rejected claims that it plans to attack NATO nations, dismissing them as 'nonsense' and accusing Western leaders of intentionally alarming their citizens to justify increased defense budgets.
The Hill
11-07-2025
- Business
- The Hill
Germany promised to double defense spending — now it must deliver
During the final two decades of the Cold War, many observers considered the West German military, the Bundeswehr, to be the most capable land force among the European NATO allies. Highly professional and extremely well trained, the German land forces, like the entire German military, benefitted from defense expenditures that by 1988 amounted to more than 3 percent of the country's GDP. And with an economy that was the largest in western Europe, West German defense spending was greater than that of all other NATO members, apart from the U.S., the U.K. and Turkey. The end of the Cold War resulted in a precipitous decline in defense expenditures on the part of a now-united Germany. Faced with the need to integrate the population of the former East Germany into its extremely generous welfare system, and with no clear threat to its security, Berlin's spending dropped below 2 percent in 1992 and continued to fall until it reached a low of 1.07 percent in 2005. The following year, at its Riga summit, NATO formally agreed that member states would commit to spending 2 percent of GDP on defense. German spending rose that year — but only to 1.2 percent. The paucity of German spending on defense manifested itself in the increasingly poor state of German military readiness. By 2010, the German Army's once-vaunted Leopard tanks were suffering from low availability, as significant numbers were in storage or maintenance. The Air Force's Tornado and Eurofighter aircraft were suffering from shortages of spare parts. The German fleet was aging, with few replacements and limited deployments. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates likely had Germany in mind when in 2011 he told his NATO colleagues that 'if current trends in the decline of European defense capabilities are not halted and reversed, future U.S. political leaders — those for whom the Cold War was not the formative experience that it was for me — may not consider the return on America's investment in NATO worth the cost.' Even Russia's seizure and annexation of Crimea in 2014, and NATO's reaffirmation of its 2 percent goal at the Wales summit that year, hardly made an impression on German defense spending. Indeed, it took five more years for defense spending to rise to just slightly above 1.25 percent. Only after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 did the trajectory of German spending begin to change. Five days after the Russian invasion, German Chancellor Olof Scholz — in what came to be called his 'Zeitenwende' or 'turning point' speech to the Bundestag — announced that his government would 'set up a special fund for the Bundeswehr' with 'a one-off sum of 100 billion euro for the fund. We will use this money for necessary investments and armament projects.' He added that 'we will now — year after year — invest more than 2 percent of our gross domestic product in our defense.' Germany indeed hit the 2 percent mark early in 2024 and it will reach 2.4 percent this year. Scholz's successor, Friedrich Merz, elected in May after the Scholz government was defeated in the December 2024 election, announced an even sharper jump in German defense spending, thanks to a constitutional reform that will allow government borrowing above the previous rate of 0.35 percent of GDP. Three weeks ago, Merz committed Germany to more than double its defense spending by 2029, thereby reaching NATO's new target of 3.5 percent of GDP ahead of almost all the other European NATO allies. Merz's initiative is certainly welcome, but it is not clear that he will be able to follow through on his promises. The German public remains deeply concerned about Russia's ongoing aggression against Ukraine, and thus far does not appear to have responded negatively to the government's plans. Nevertheless, even with less restrictive constraints on government borrowing, Merz may find it difficult to maintain the generous social welfare regime that Germans have benefitted from for decades. Any cutbacks or modification of those benefits could spur a popular backlash against the planned defense increases. Moreover, the fact that Germany is expected to continue to purchase U.S. defense products — currently totaling at least $15 billion — at a time when America is extremely unpopular throughout western Europe may intensify that backlash. Whether the fledgling Merz government will have the fortitude to withstand popular pressure over the next several years is an open question. Hopefully it will, because Germany, once NATO's fulcrum in central Europe, will remain critical to the credibility of the alliance's deterrent against a Russia whose appetite for swallowing up its neighbors continues to appear insatiable. Dov S. Zakheim is a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and vice chairman of the board for the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He was undersecretary of Defense (comptroller) and chief financial officer for the Department of Defense from 2001 to 2004 and a deputy undersecretary of Defense from 1985 to 1987.
