German Army Commander Alfons Mais said that the German army needs to add 100,000 more permanent soldiers to the current force of about 62,000 people, in order to meet the goal set by NATO in the context of increasingly high risk of conflict.
In a letter dated September 2 to Chief of Staff Carsten Breuer quoted by the press, Mr. Mais emphasized that the German army must be combat readiness ready by 2029 and provide the capabilities committed to NATO by 2035. He said that with the current number of troops, including 37,000 reserve troops, this goal cannot be achieved.
Germany has begun to increase its presence in Eastern Europe, including deploying a Brigade of about 5,000 men in Lithuania and naval patrol forces in the Baltic Sea to counter the risk of sabotage at sea. Mr. Mais proposed to add 45,000 more permanent troops before 2029. He also proposed adding 45,000 troops by 2035 to meet the demand for war expenditure, along with 10,000 troops for territorial defense missions.
The German Defense Ministry declined to comment on the documents due to their confidentiality, but insists NATO has adjusted its capacity targets after the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2022. According to initial estimates, Germany will need about 460,000 soldiers, including 260,000 regular soldiers and 200,000 reserve soldiers.
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said in June that Germany will need 60,000 more troops to meet the new demand, bringing the total force to about 260,000 troops. However, Germany has yet to reach the target of 203,000 troops set for 2018 and is short of about 20,000 troops compared to this figure.
