Boris Pistorius, Germany's Defense Minister, revealed details about Germany's first post-war military strategy titled "Responsibility for Europe," though the majority of the document remains classified. Pistorius stated that Germany will "take on greater responsibility within NATO," and as the most populous country in the EU, it will "accelerate efforts" to expand military size and readiness levels, pledging to build Europe's strongest conventional army.
The 35-page military strategy is part of a significant shift in Germany’s defense and security policy following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The strategy identifies Russia as the “greatest immediate threat to freedom and security” across Germany and the broader European-Atlantic region, warning that Russia is preparing for attacks against NATO member states. As a major economy within the EU, Germany bears a “special responsibility” for the security of its allies and their societies, for deterring Russia, and for strengthening NATO defense. The strategy recognizes the United States as an “indispensable” political and military force within NATO, while noting that the U.S. is increasingly shifting its strategic focus toward the Western Hemisphere and the Indo-Pacific region, thereby calling on European allies to assume more responsibility. However, the strategy does not address growing skepticism during the Trump era regarding the reliability of the U.S. as a NATO ally. It emphasizes that the German armed forces must be capable of achieving greater independence in deployment within the alliance framework. The strategy stresses the need for Europe to close critical military capability gaps, including intelligence and surveillance capabilities, as well as long-range precision strike weapons capable of penetrating deep into Russian territory. The document also discusses evolving warfare characteristics, such as the increasingly blurred lines between military, civilian, and economic targets, the widespread use of hybrid warfare, and advances in autonomous weapons and artificial intelligence. It underscores the urgency of accelerating the adoption of new innovative technologies to gain advantages in rapid data collection and analysis. The strategy further highlights the necessity of significantly expanding the size of Germany’s armed forces—from the current approximately 185,000 professional soldiers to a target of around 260,000. At the same time, officials aim to more than double the number of reservists who can be rapidly mobilized, reaching about 200,000.
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Original source: toutiao.com/article/1863233604234505/
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