The Bundeswehr’s problems with military equipment

At a meeting of the Bundestag’s Defence Committee held on 24 September 2014 the German Ministry of Defence presented a list detailing the operational readiness of the Bundeswehr's most important military equipment. According to the media, the number of systems that are combat ready is much lower than the number of the systems that the Bundeswehr has in its possession. This applies mainly to the Air Force (Tornado and Eurofighter fighter jets, Transall and A310 transport aircraft, CH-53 transport helicopters, Patriot air defence systems), the Navy’s (Sea Lynx, Sea King) and the Army’s (Tiger, NH90) helicopters. The Committee’s convened the meeting due to the Bundeswehr's recent problems with sending Transall aircraft with arms to Iraq; with dispatching frigate helicopters to the EU’s Operation Atalanta; and with maintaining the Patriot air defence systems in Turkey in combat readiness. It was the first time that German public opinion received information about the large scale of the problem. The subject of the Bundeswehr's combat readiness has provoked heated debate in Germany.