Berlin (Germany), March 3: Germany should launch an immediate program for the modernization of its armed forces, or the Bundeswehr, the country's armed forces association (DBwV) said on Wednesday.
"The Bundeswehr has been in a bad state," head of the DBwV Andre Wuestner told broadcaster ARD on Wednesday, adding that it was necessary to look at "how to reliably drive forward a strengthening of the Bundeswehr."
In light of the situation in Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday announced plans for a one-time special defense fund of 100 billion euros (111 billion U.S. dollars) in the 2022 federal budget and an increase in the annual defense budget to more than two percent of the country's gross domestic product.
Without the special fund, the German armed forces had to cut back, and that would "not be justifiable in the current situation," Wuestner said.
In addition to short-term tasks, major long-term projects such as the successor to the Tornado fighter aircraft, which will no longer be used after 2030, had to be addressed.
According to a recent survey by the research institute YouGov, a majority of 63 percent of Germans supported the one-time special fund for armaments projects and investments by the Bundeswehr.
Source: Xinhua