The Ministry of Defense wants to make decisions faster in the future, such as in connection with the Russian attack on Ukraine, the Corona crisis or the flood disaster. To this end, the management structure in Germany is to be bundled.
As a consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Corona crisis and the flood disaster, the Bundeswehr will be given a territorial command on October 1st.
So far, the operational management of the domestic forces has been spread across many areas – now it is being bundled in Berlin and reported directly to the Ministry of Defense, Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) said. Major General Carsten Breuer, who most recently also led the Corona crisis team in the Chancellery, is to become the head of the development staff and first commander.
Two leadership commands for different tasks
The Russian invasion of Ukraine underlined the need to align the command organization of the armed forces more closely with the requirements of national and alliance defense, the ministry said. The new command will be responsible, among other things, for the operational management of national forces in the context of homeland security, including administrative and disaster relief and civil-military cooperation. It is scheduled to be operational by March 2023.
The command will take on essential tasks in the command of the armed forces in Germany, while the operational command in Schwielowsee near Potsdam leads the missions abroad. The Bundeswehr will then have two command posts for different tasks. With the reorganization, the ministry is also following the findings from the work of the Corona crisis team, which means that a crisis team can quickly start work in the Chancellery in special situations.
“Quick deployment” of forces for the national crisis team
“With the new command, we can quickly provide the necessary forces for a national crisis team beyond the purely military tasks” – for example in the case of flood disasters or the Covid pandemic, Lambrecht said. The command should also be responsible for national relocations in connection with NATO planning for national and alliance defense. In addition, it will organize the transfer of allied forces through Germany in coordination with NATO. The new command aims to establish a national territorial leadership capability across the entire spectrum of issues of peace, crisis and war.
The command emerged from the Territorial Tasks Command of the Bundeswehr, previously headed by Breuer, which is responsible for civil-military cooperation in Germany. This is reinforced by personnel from the Bonn-based Armed Forces Base Command. In order to strengthen the capabilities of the troops in connection with the German contribution to the fulfillment of NATO alliance obligations, there should be 1,000 offices for an additional logistics battalion. In addition, 700 posts are planned for two additional NBC defense companies and 200 posts for an additional military police company.
