Germany has put forward the city of Ulm as a potential candidate for a logistics base to counter potential Russian aggression on NATO's eastern flank. An alternative would be the US city of Norfolk, Virginia.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
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Germany has put forward the southern city of Ulm as the site of a new logistics command to be built in response to Russian actions in eastern Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea.
If chosen, the city would be a base in any crisis operation to speed troops and equipment across Europe to NATO's eastern flank.
Ulm is already home to Germany's Multinational Joint Headquarters, which exercises command and control of operations for the United Nations, NATO and the European Union. The Defense Ministry also considered sites near the western cities of Bonn and Cologne.
Even without the base, Germany would be a hub in any military deployment on NATO's eastern fringes. Forces from the US and Canada would likely pass through Germany's North Sea ports such as Bremerhaven, while most ground troops from western European members would pass through German territory.
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.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/M. Kul
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Plan to be ready for April
The US has also offered to host the proposed NATO command at Norfolk, Virginia.
Germany's Defense Ministry said a broad plan for the new Joint Support and Enabling Command (JSEC) would be ready by mid-April. A formal decision by NATO is expected at a meeting of defense ministers from June 7-8.
"As a framework nation for the JSEC, we can make a significant contribution to burden-sharing in the alliance," the Reuters news agency cited Peter Tauber, state secretary in the Defense Ministry, as telling German lawmakers on Tuesday.
A second command — a North Atlantic planning and strategy hub — is also planned to protect shipping lanes from enemy submarines. It is thought that each command would have about 1,500 employees. Proposed cities for the hub include the US's Norfolk and Germany's Cologne.
