Germany improves territorial and alliance defence

Germany will sign a contract for rail transport of the NATO VJTF when it leads it in 2023. (Bundeswehr/Florian Eder)

The Bundeswehr is improving its territorial and alliance defence capabilities, according to a Ministry of Defence (MoD) interim status report published on 8 July. Among the measures the report identifies to achieve this are standing up an overall territorial defence command for the Bundeswehr, restructuring the Germany Army for the current territorial and alliance defence scenarios, reinforcing select territorial commands, and building up territorial defence and support units.

The MoD began work on making Bundeswehr structures more efficient and effective in January 2022, focusing on personnel, materiel, and financing, which has gained greater urgency since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The report also refers to Chinese “ambitions to exploit existing instability, to fill power vacuums especially in Africa, and to erode international security and value systems”.

The Territoriales Führungskommando der Bundeswehr, the Bundeswehr's overall territorial defence command, will be stood up in Berlin on 1 October 2022 as the operational counterpart inside Germany for the Einsatzführungskommando der Bundeswehr, the German armed forces' operations command in Potsdam.

The report said regional territorial defence command and homeland defence support during the Covid-19 pandemic and natural disasters pointed to the requirement for reinforcing regional structures, which is happening for select regional territorial defence commands, in addition to standing up homeland defence regiments.