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☆ Berlin aims to have "best equipped" NATO army division in Europe in 2025
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-17 | by ( Sabine Siebold | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Heiko BeckerBERLIN, July 17 (Reuters) - Germany is confident it will have the best equipped army division amongst European NATO allies in 2025, Army Chief Alfons Mais told Reuters, as countries are scrambling to gear up their troops in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. At the moment, Berlin does not have a single combat-ready division, a military unit comprising more than 20,000 troops. It aims to have the first of three divisions operational by 2025, with the second to follow in 2027. "It will be sufficient, in any case, to contribute the best equipped division of all European NATO partners in 2025. "But supporting Ukraine is more important right now than establishing a division, as NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has stressed," he underlined.

Persons: Boris Pistorius, Heiko Becker BERLIN, Alfons Mais, Mais, Jens Stoltenberg, Olaf Scholz, Sabine Siebold, Emma, Victoria Farr, David Evans Organizations: German, Bundeswehr, REUTERS, NATO, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Hammelburg, Germany, Ukraine, Berlin, Dutch, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kyiv

☆ Germany sends troops to Australia in a first as Berlin shifts focus to Indo-Pacific
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( Sabine Siebold | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

China is Berlin's most important trading partner, and 40% of Europe's foreign trade flows through the South China Sea, a waterway that is a focal point for territorial disputes in the Indo-Pacific. In 2021, a German warship sailed into the South China Sea for the first time in almost 20 years. When asked what message the first deployment of German troops to Australia was meant to send to China, he underscored Berlin did not aim to antagonize anybody. Mais plans to visit the German troops in Australia and a Rheinmetall (RHMG.DE) plant assembling Boxer armoured transport vehicles for both armies in mid-July, before travelling on to Japan and Singapore. As for Talisman Sabre, the German troops already have orders to return to Australia for the next exercise in 2025.

Persons: Alfons Mais, Berlin, Mais, Talisman Sabre, Sabine Siebold, Frank Jack Daniel Our Organizations: European Union, Reuters, Talisman, Rheinmetall, Boxer, Thomson Locations: BERLIN, Germany, Australia, China, German, U.S, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, France, Britain, Berlin, Europe, Singapore

Many Germans viewed the end of the Cold War as the end of major conflict for the West. Germany has since become one of Ukraine's top military supporters, having spent 2.2 billion euros on weapons deliveries. 'EMPTY-HANDED' ARMYBeyond the immediate decision on tanks, Pistorius faces the mammoth task of upgrading Germany's military, the Bundeswehr, which army chief Alfons Mais, on the day of Russia's invasion, described as "more or less empty handed". Even before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Germany was 20 billion euros short of reaching NATO's target for ammunitions stockpiling, a defence source said. Analysts and experts say Pistorius will have to find his own voice to push for more spending and an overhaul of Germany's defence and procurement systems.

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