The “fundamental renewal of the Bundeswehr” and the “Army of the future” continued the gradual developments that had taken place in the years before – from a Bundeswehr intended to be able to engage in defence against a mechanised adversary at the national borders within 48 hours, to one on operations worldwide within the framework of international conflict management. The transition to an “army on operations” needed to be reflected in the structure of the armed forces. The reform of the Army officially started on 21 July 2000 when the “directive on detailed planning of the armed forces of the future” was issued.
The Federal Minister of Defence’s political guidelines required that the Army be able to perform the following spectrum of tasks:
National and collective defence
Crisis and conflict management
Special operations
Disaster relief and assistance operations
Orienting the Army’s structure towards the most likely operations was at the heart of this reform. In order to support allies outside of Germany, the Army had to be prepared to contribute forces on the scale of a reinforced mechanised division (major operation). As an alternative to this major operation, the Army was to be able to provide a force level of up to 10,000 military personnel on two simultaneous operations (medium-sized operation) for a long period of time within the framework of conflict prevention and crisis management.
In addition, a force level of around 1,000 military personnel was to be earmarked (small operation) for national preparedness for operations to rescue and evacuate German citizens, for protection of Germany’s own forces against terrorist threats, and for operations for the purposes of humanitarian aid and disaster relief.
The Army loses 40 percent of its personnel
The “fundamental reorientation of the Bundeswehr” meant that the Army was to focus on its core tasks. Support tasks were transferred to the new major organisational elements: the Joint Support and Enabling Service (JSES) and the Bundeswehr Joint Medical Service. The JSES and the Bundeswehr Joint Medical Service relieve the armed services of all non-mission-oriented tasks in both routine duty and national territorial tasks. In addition to their individual operational missions, they act as service units.
The new division of tasks had a direct effect on the personnel staffing levels. While there had still been some 225,000 military personnel serving in the “New Army for New Tasks”, the strength of the “Army of the future” was only 134,000. The Army lost 40 percent of its personnel, but had to increase its readily available operational forces at the same time.
However, more than 50,000 Army military personnel were also transferred to the Joint Support and Enabling Service and the Medical Service along with the tasks these elements took on. In the “armed forces of the future”, 190,000 military personnel – and therefore also the majority of the military personnel in the JSES – wore Army uniforms. The 190,000 Army personnel were divided as follows among the major organisational elements of the armed forces:
Army: 134,000 military personnel
Joint Support and Enabling Service: 37,000 military personnel
Joint Medical Service: 19,000 military personnel