Change in armaments procurement necessary

The Federal Government wants to make an extra 100 billion euros available for the Bundeswehr – laid down in the Basic Law. Now the big question is: what is the best way to spend the money?

Christian Mölling, research director of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), warns in an interview with the Handelsblatt against rushing defense policy. A lot of money would be spent unnecessarily on partly outdated material. “In addition, the bureaucracy is not yet properly set up to spend the money quickly and sensibly,” he points out.

He considers it unrealistic to reform the responsible procurement office. Instead, he calls for a new agency that could take care of the armaments projects from the special fund.

Legal certainty should no longer be the main criterion when procuring military material. Instead, it must be essential to have functioning armed forces. Mölling therefore calls for a rethink: “It needs a complete change in arms procurement.”

Read the full interview here:

Mr. Mölling, the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder is calling for the Bundeswehr to be fully operational within a year. How realistic do you think that is?
To think that we can build something now that will help within the next six months – that will not succeed. The federal government could go and buy everything that is available on the market as quickly as possible. Then you might be able to reach numbers quickly. However, they have two negative effects: firstly, it is not the most modern material that you would like, and secondly, you spend a lot of money unnecessarily.

How come?
With the special fund and NATO’s two percent target, politicians are sending a signal. Because she has made a spending target the measure of success – in other words, the money has to go. That is a fatal signal to the market, which then thinks that it is no longer a question of quality, but above all of getting rid of money. The federal government therefore runs the risk of being left with a series of overpriced and in some cases only half-finished armament projects at the end of the legislature.

How could the politicians have done it better?
You could have said: Our goal is to spend this money, plan accordingly, and when the products are there, we’ll spend the money. But if the products aren’t of the required quality, then the money simply flows back. This should have been communicated to the industry, but also to Parliament. In addition, the bureaucracy is not yet properly set up to spend the money quickly and sensibly.

Are you talking about the bureaucracy at the Federal Office for Equipment, Information Technology and Use of the Bundeswehr in Koblenz (BAAINBw)?
Exactly.

Do you fear that the problems there will slow down the effects of the special fund?
Projects that are financed from the special fund do not necessarily have to go through the BAAINBw. Instead, one could create a special organization, an agency. It would be significantly smaller and would not run over the structures of the BAAINBw. Because the character of the projects now planned is quite different.

In what way?
Politicians want to write these projects into the constitution – that means they have a high priority. This shows the special will of politicians to implement the projects that have been laid down. But you can’t do that with the current structures at BAAINBw. So you create an organization with someone at the top who is appointed politically, by the Secretary of Defense for example. This person would then have a mandate to implement the will of politicians and to hold political talks again and again.

Wouldn’t it be better to do everything possible to reform the authority you have instead of creating parallel structures? An agency like that doesn’t get rid of itself again…
Of course, if you set up this agency as a public company, you can close it down when it has done its job. This is much easier than reforming the procurement office – because the attempts have been made in the past. But there are also almost 11,000 people working there.

But if you found such an agency, wouldn’t the procurement office in Koblenz then be superfluous?
The Bundeswehr has over 1000 armaments projects per year. We’re talking about 25 to 30 projects that would be financed through the special fund. You need a maximum of 70 people to manage that. If there were more, you would have the bureaucracy effect again. And the BAAINBw can continue to manage all the rest – that’s what it’s set up for. You can also try to change something there bit by bit. But bringing about a cultural change in such a bureaucracy takes decades, not just years.

More Handelsblatt articles on upgrading the Bundeswehr:

What kind of culture change would it take?
It needs a complete change in arms procurement. Because the main criterion must no longer be legal certainty. The essential criterion must be to have functioning armed forces. That means you have to use the leeway in interpreting the regulations. The cultural change therefore applies beyond the bureaucracy to the government and parliament.

By when do you expect that the effects of the special fund will actually show up in the effectiveness of the Bundeswehr?
There are some things that you can acquire quickly, such as the F-35 stealth jets. In the case of air defense, for example, we are also talking about three to five years. But when it comes to armaments, there is also an interest in technological development. If I want to do everything from the sketch to the finished product, I have to reckon with significantly longer running times. We’re talking about 10 to 15 years. A mix of fast and innovative projects makes sense. But that certainly won’t happen anytime soon.

More: Europe in crisis mode: A continent is arming itself.