{"id":24562,"date":"2018-09-05T20:31:38","date_gmt":"2018-09-05T20:31:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/09\/05\/germany-unveils-growth-plan-for-the-bundeswehr\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:02:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:02:18","slug":"germany-unveils-growth-plan-for-the-bundeswehr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2018\/09\/05\/germany-unveils-growth-plan-for-the-bundeswehr\/","title":{"rendered":"Germany unveils growth plan for the Bundeswehr"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

COLOGNE, Germany \u2014 The German government has presented an ambitious plan for beefing up the country\u2019s armed forces over the next 10-plus years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strategy comes in the form of a new \u201ccapability profile,\u201d described by Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen as a \u201cgrand, comprehensive modernization concept.\u201d At its intermediate point, by 2024, it proposes Germany\u2019s annual defense budget at 1.5 percent of gross domestic product, or about \u20ac60 billion (U.S. $69 billion).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That would amount to a sizable increase for a country currently hovering around a GDP of \u20ac40 billion. But it would still fall short of the NATO-wide objective of spending 2 percent of GDP on defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In von der Leyen\u2019s telling, the new strategy would lift the armed forces from years of budget cutbacks and deprivation toward a set of capabilities deep enough to defend the homeland and simultaneously partake in out-of-area missions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the telling of critics, the strategy amounts to little more than wishful thinking because it assumes defense spending way above what is currently on the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Social Democrats, which hold the reigns of the Finance Ministry in the current coalition government, previously rejected the type of stark budget boosts that the Defence Ministry believes is needed to plug longstanding shortfalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\t