Latest news with #Gerhartz
Yahoo
7 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Fighter pilot 'Hawk' takes charge of German Air Force
A 56-year-old fighter pilot, Lieutenant General Holger Neumann, has been appointed as the new head of the German Air Force. Neumann was inaugurated on Tuesday at a roll call ceremony at an airbase in Wunstorf, in the state of Lower Saxony. Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said that Neumann had learned the job from the bottom up and was held in high regard by the troops. "The tasks remain challenging or are becoming even more challenging," Pistorius said, citing the war in Europe and the goal of securing NATO's eastern flank close to Russia. The inspector general of the German military, Carsten Breuer, said that the air force had come together under its outgoing chief, Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz. Gerhartz had made the air force "fit for war," Breuer said. He called Neumann a top general and a "Eurofighter pilot with a heart and soul." After seven years as the leader of the air force, Gerhartz will become commander of the NATO headquarters in Brunssum in the Netherlands. Neumann completed his basic military service with the paratroopers in 1988 and 1989. Most recently, he was commander of the Tactical Air Force Squadrons, air transport units and training facilities in the Air Force Troop Command. Neumann - whose pilot's name is Hawk - has completed 2,800 flying hours on various types of aircraft such as the Tornado and Eurofighter. The new inspector general of the Luftwaffe will help oversee the deployment of the Arrow 3 air defence system. The first parts of the system will be set up in the coming year. The Israeli system is designed to destroy incoming missiles at altitudes exceeding 100 kilometres.
Yahoo
04-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
German Air Force receives first parts for Arrow 3 system from Israel
The chief of Germany's Air Force has travelled to Israel to procure the first part of the Arrow 3 air-defence system, as Germany seeks to boost its air defences in light of Europe's altered security landscape. Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz visited Arrow 3 manufacturer Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) in Tel Aviv to receive the central communication element of the weapons system, a spokesman for the air force said. Germany's Air Force is aiming for the modern hypersonic, anti-ballistic missile system to achieve initial operational readiness by the end of this year, as the country is looking to close a defence gap. Arrow 3 is able to shoot down missiles at an altitude of more than 100 kilometres - meaning it can destroy projectiles outside of the atmosphere, a capability Germany's current defence umbrella doesn't have. "With Arrow 3, Germany is procuring an Israeli weapons system on my initiative that will help to protect Germany against threats from the air," Gerhartz told dpa. The first of three locations for the firing units is set to be Holzdorf military airbase in eastern Germany, some 75 kilometres south of the German capital, where construction work is under way. Germany is seeking to invest heavily in its air defence in light of Russia having significantly ramped up its defence industry amid its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, sparking fears that Moscow might launch an attack on European NATO territory in the coming years. To this end, Germany has also launched an initiative for a common European air defence system - the European Sky Shield Initiative.
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Germany's Luftwaffe opens new headquarters to command air operations
The German air force is strengthening its ability to plan and command defence operations from a new headquarters in north-western Germany. A new Air Component Command (ACC) went into service on Friday in Kalkar, near Germany's border with the Netherlands. Lieutentant General Ingo Gerhartz called the redeveloped command post a "decisive point" for Germany's "national and alliance defence." The headquarters will facilitate multinational operations between NATO allies and the Luftwaffe, Germany's air force. "Air Defender, the largest air force deployment exercise, showed that it took some time before we were able to command our partners' aircraft. We are now changing that with the ACC," Gerhartz told dpa on Friday. The German military said the headquarters is "capable of operationally implementing political decisions on the employment of air forces within the scope of national and collective defence at any time without lead time, thus ensuring immediate response capability at any time in the event of a crisis."
