Since 2016 the German military — the Bundeswehr — has planned to provide troops with new combat boots. Now soldiers must wait longer to be properly equipped, something one member of parliament described as "grotesque."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/P. Seeger
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German troops will have to wait until 2022 to receive new combat boots due to "limited production capacity in industry," media reported.
The inability of the Bundeswehr to equip soldiers with basic footwear adds to a series of scandals over lack of equipment and questions over combat readiness in the NATO member.
Since 2016, the Bundeswehr has planned to provide soldiers with two pairs of "heavy combat boots" and one "light combat boot," instead of a standard "all-season boot."
The rollout was to be completed by the end of 2020, but has now been pushed back to mid-2022, Berlin daily Tagespiegel reported, citing a Defense Ministry response to a parliamentary inquiry.
The Defense Ministry told the newspaper: "Due to limited production capacity in industry the schedule could not be kept."
Bundeswehr struggles with faulty defense equipment
Germany's military faces almost daily reports on new problems with its hardware: planes and helicopters on the ground, tanks and ships not operational. The list goes on.
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Faulty tanks and grounded helicopters
Frustrated soldiers and a defense system struggling to repair its way into a fully functioning military. And a new defense minister who will have to regain confidence from army representatives.
Image: Getty Images/V. Wieker
Defective helicopters
Ageing helicopters have proved a big hurdle for the German military. The Bundeswehr has grounded all its 53 Tiger helicopters, after engineers said technical faults needed attention. Defense services were also forced to recall 22 Sea Lynx anti-submarine helicopters in 2014, confirming newspaper reports of malfunction.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Carsten Rehder
Manufacturing fault
The Eurofighter is the German military's most modern fighter jet. As a result of a manufacturing error, only four of the 128 planes were in action in 2018. A pilot was killed in June 2019 when two Eurofighters collided in the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, prompting fresh calls for further restrictions on the plane's use.
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Let's replace it... as soon as we make a decision
Tornado fighters have been flying for over 40 years. CDU plans to replace the ageing planes were thrown into question by the center-left SPD in February 2019. But some officials claim flying the Tornado after 2030 could cost Germany around €8 billion ($9 billion) in repair costs.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Udo Zander
Not making any tracks
New Puma tanks for the German military came into use in 2018. Only 27 of the 71 Pumas were immediately ready for deployment — which prompted a fresh backlash against then Defense Secretary Ursula von der Leyen.
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Glitches at sea
New F125 frigates — but they are't ready yet. German plans to replace the old frigates stalled in 2018, due to there not being enough spare parts to make them seaworthy. Officials also said Germany would have to soon stop signing up to NATO and UN missions in the same year — the country just did not have enough ships spare.
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Headache for AKK?
She has not been in the job long, but Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has inherited a huge problem. Old equipment being grounded is now a regular and pressing occurrence. Former Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen signed a deal to develop a "Future Combat Air System" in June — which is scheduled to replace Germany's air force by 2040.
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According to the parliamentary inquiry, around 160,000 of 183,000 soldiers have received their first pair of heavy combat boots. However, troops have not received the second pair.
Only 31,000 soldiers have been issued the light combat boot.
"It seems quite grotesque that it takes eight years to equip troops with new footwear," said Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, a member of parliament from the opposition Free Democrats who requested the information from the Defense Ministry.
"After all, this is not a question of fashion but one of safety. Imagine firefighters extinguishing fires in slippers," she said.
Germany's NATO missions
Since West Germany's accession to NATO, Berlin has supported numerous operations involving the trans-Atlantic alliance. Since 1990, Germany's Bundeswehr has been deployed on "out of area" missions as well.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Hanschke
Germany's role in NATO
West Germany officially joined the trans-Atlantic alliance in 1955. However, it wasn't until after reunification in 1990 that the German government considered "out of area" missions led by NATO. From peacekeeping to deterrence, Germany's Bundeswehr has since been deployed in several countries across the globe in defense of its allies.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Hanschke
Bosnia: Germany's first NATO mission
In 1995, Germany participated in its first "out of area" NATO mission as part of a UN-mandated peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina. During the deployment, German soldiers joined other NATO member forces to provide security in the wake of the Bosnian War. The peacekeeping mission included more than 60,000 troops from NATO's member states and partners.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/H. Delic
Keeping the peace in Kosovo
Since the beginning of the NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, some 8,500 German soldiers have been deployed in the young country. In 1999, NATO launched an air assault against Serbian forces accused of carrying out a brutal crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists and their civilian supporters. Approximately 550 Bundeswehr troops are still stationed in Kosovo.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/V.Xhemaj
Patrolling the Aegean Sea
In 2016, Germany deployed its combat support ship "Bonn" to lead a NATO mission backed by the EU in the Aegean Sea. The mission included conducting "reconnaissance, monitoring and surveillance of illegal crossings" in Greek and Turkish territorial waters at the height of the migration crisis. Germany, Greece and Turkey had requested assistance from the trans-Atlantic alliance.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/M.Schreiber
Nearly two decades in Afghanistan
In 2003, Germany's parliament voted to send Bundeswehr troops to Afghanistan in support of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Germany became the third-largest contributor of troops and led the Regional Command North. More than 50 German troops were killed during the mission. Germany withdrew the last of its troops in June 2021 as part of the US-led exit from Afghanistan.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/A.Niedringhaus
German tanks in Lithuania
Forming part of NATO's "enhanced forward presence" in the Baltic states, 450 Bundeswehr soldiers have been deployed to Lithuania since 2017. The battalion-size battlegroups there are led by Germany, Canada, the UK and US to reinforce collective defense on the alliance's eastern flank. It forms the "biggest reinforcement of Alliance collective defense in a generation," according to NATO.
Soldiers have complained about the comfort and quality of the standard-issue all-season boot. Some buy their own boots, which is against regulation but often permitted.
The extended waiting time for the new combat boots was criticized by the Commissioner for Armed Forces, Hans-Peter Bartels, in his most recent annual report.
"Unfortunately, the output process slightly diminishes morale," he noted. "Recruits, according to the perception of many senior soldiers, would be treated preferentially in the issue of new models."
Seasoned soldiers, who still get the previous model when exchanging boots, feel like second-class soldiers, he said.
