*Correction* 02:55 - This is wrong. The 100 bn fund is extra. Apologies for the confusion. *Edit* Translation at 12:06 (missed it in the edit) 'It is also good that the contracts for the "Eurodrone" were finally signed this week.' 'We are also pressing ahead with the acquisition of the armed Heron drone from Israel.' *Update* This video by MHV is a great breakdown at the socio-political background of German military spending. Check it out, was great to assit in making it: ruclips.net/video/mDUElJY4xNQ/видео.html
The F-35 is a bad plane for everything if anything Germany should get Rafales it's the only capable plane in all types of missions and considered to be the best jet in the world, we know this since the leak of classified evaluation documents of the Netherlands showing the Rafale superior to all it's competitors and above the F-35. In these times it's important that EU have functioning military capabilities.
@@ommsterlitz1805 the F35 took longer than it should have but it's hear now and it's pretty damn close to all singing and all dancing. The F35 is simply the best value for money on the market. You can pay less and get less or pay more and get less
@@ommsterlitz1805 First things first, where are these "Classified Documents"? And second, why would the Dutch bring Rafale into the equation for being better than the F-35? Too many armchair experts that have a bias or just like being a contra.
@@seanmac1793 The F-35 is insanely more costly than any other jet because of cost of maintenance wtf are you talking about it's one of the downside of the F-35 and you bring it as positive. I swear americans are so....
“Take that America!” 😂 Anyone who has studied German knows that the preference for compound nouns means that Germany’s potential for acronym supremacy is always REAL! Great video!
As an American and a veteran, I am happy to see Germany get back into the defense of Europe. It has way to many talented engineers and soldiers to stay on the sidelines. Welcome back, boys.
Generations here have been raised with another mindset after the dark days of world war 2, you couldn't really invest into the military here without loosing a ton of votes and people speaking up against it. The reality is that now the population is waking up to the idea that you need a solid military presence to be taken seriously when it comes to defense and being a part of NATO. I am afraid it's one of those moments where something had to go horribly wrong again for people to rethink, this is why we are years behind... Anyways without getting to much into US politics here I am glad that NATO reacted the way they did to this invasion who knows what somebody like Trump would have done. As far as I know Biden has a lot of experience in choosing words wisely from the cold war era even!
@@warlordwossman5722 It's really - as you said - partially a result of how we (as a nation) coped with WW2. There is little patriotism, any military action (Kosovo, Afghanistan, etc) is something "we" as a nation aren't proud of (and I'm not either necessarily). Our soldiers aren't necessarily respected, and not even the people in power respect them. Compare vdL's "opinion" towards _her_ military when she was defense minister with AKK's to know what I mean. Add that to decades of peace and prosperity and you get an environment in which the military... will have to collect the pieces of rusting equipment and see if it can ductape something together.
Did u know that Germany can't efford using American strategic bombs with nukleare warheads as usa didn't want to give the Eurofighter the green light? Germany asked over years to get the Typhoon into this option. But usa every time saying no. The f35, F18 having this ability so they guessing to buy th f35 for tornado replacement
I remember when I was in Germany and we did joint live fire ranges with the German army. They often didn't have enough ammunition to complete their qualifications so they'd request from us. They knew of our fascination with the G36 rifles so they'd let us shoot them to our hearts content. So a weird system sort of developed out of that. German Army were good guys, just poorly funded and equipped. I'm glad to see that coming to an end.
yeah german army was mismanaged for years by clueless clowns. the only 3 headlines it made in recent years were "drone eurohawk costed billions and is unusable" "g36 rifles don't work if you autofire in a hot desert. whoever ordered them didn't specify, that they are about to be used in extreme environment" and "german bundeswehr finally has uniforms for pregnant soldiers".
@@TrakThora There's really no proof for that claim. As Chris said, American presidents as well as other countries in NATO for the past couple of decades have asked Germany to increase their defense spending which they didn't until now.
I thought Scholz’s speech was fantastic. Merz’s as well. Germany has a past, but that past should no longer dictate her future, or the future of NATO. And the fact is, Germany is by far the biggest economy in Europe; we NEED you to be a full partner. This isn’t about selling you LNG, or the F-35. I couldn’t care less about that. It’s about Germany standing up for the values that unite us, and helping to deter the Putin’s, Xi’s, and Lukashenko’s from repeating what’s happening right now in Ukraine.
Both German and Japan have pasts but we are living in the real world today were the luxury of hindsight and guilt is not an option. German, France and UK could easily control the air space in a major invasion by Russia. That is why we are about to see the largest airforce power in Europe forming since WW2. Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium and Polish air forces are going to be fully activated. That is far larger than anything Russia has.
@@bavariancarenthusiast2722 Of course, and I was living a very long time in Germany. Germany is hiding behind their history, because the politicians want to please everybody. This is why Germany is about to fail. Look at the defense minister. You like her?
As an American I'm always happy to hear our allies say they are going to take on more of their own national defense. And if you look at the success Ukraine has had defending themselves against Russia, it's obvious that the top European countries can obviously defend themselves to a large part. Especially as a coalition.
YUP! This needed to happen 15 years ago and Russia NEVER would have done what they did if the EU acted in the same way as NATO does. Then Turkey could be booted out since its interests seem to counter most countries in NATO, especially in the Middle East where the best thing for peace would be to separate Iraq up into the Kurds and other Iraq citizens, but it seems clear there needs to be a Sunni Iraq that's separate from the Shiite Iraq, and Turkey gets in the way of that happening. If the EU, UK and US were firm about it there's nothing Turkey could do.
@@johndoh5182 but having Turkey and other authoritarian European countries in NATO seems smart, to me, right now, because Putin would certainly love to cozy up with those, but cannot, now.
@@johndoh5182 I really think we, the west, need to take a big step back from the middle east now that we're out. Our actions there have tarnished our global reputation to the point where even China can now legitimately claim to be more respectful of national sovereignty than the west, that's a pretty sad state of affairs. In order to restore our reputation we have to stop meddling in regions which we clearly do not understand attempting to achieve overly ambitious and poorly specified goals and instead focus on defence.
I an US Army vet, and I like to expand my rather American point of view by listening to others from India to France or England. I have watched a few of your videos before, and especially enjoyed this one. I feel like you try to give several German points of view, and it's refreshing to have an educated perspective that is niether American nor eager to blame the US for everything.
... sorry, long day, just checking through E-mail and caught your comment. I say "American" when I mean United States--ian because it is easier even though it smacks of arrogance, and having been to England, Wales, and Scotland, I don't automatically assume the same foreign policy interests or economic interests with the three. Still, I get your point that we will use "England" as a 'toss off' for Great Britain. Brexit angst and consequences has made, for me, the British Isles more interesting. ( And a British wife might kick me in the shin )
I did my military service in the Bundeswehr in the late 80s. It was when they noticed that it was quite odd for an army that was basically sitting there waiting for things to happen to have so many incidents where people would be injured by frostbite. My unit was among the first to receive the new improved winter clothing and it was utter crap. Expensive crap though. My expectations are low if they just get more money to burn.
I think the business is corrupt in nature and only a strong willed leadership from politicians and military higher ups can do anything about it. Basically you need people who are in it for the task at had (make military better) and not their careers. Needless to say most higher ups in most systems are in it for themselves and their careers. Anyways, I think our chances to get something decent out of it are better then the russian's with crony cleptocracy and an oppressive leader.
Wow, one would think after experiencing the Russian winter without cold weather gear in WW2 Germany would never, ever again overlook warm clothes for its soldiers. .
@@donberry7657 corruption everywhere ,it's not like in Russian where generals and statesmen grab the money for themselves but when u spend the money right u get a new mension in Bolivia.
It's tough to beat the $ that get spent in the States for overpriced and underwhelming. Our new carriers are running 13 billion a pop and they're still working out the bugs. And I just read the Army is getting new all terrain squad vehicles that soldiers hate. The military says their made of 90% off the shelf GM parts, yet they cost $330,000 each! Explain that to me...I don't mind my taxes going to our guys in uniform but what the Hell Is wrong with just building Jeeps?
From an Australian Chris to a German Chris, thank you so much for breaking this down in English language, I've been trying to decipher what this all means from various news websites but your breakdown of it all here is by far the best and most comprehensive I've seen! Thank you so much for this! (and all your other excellent videos of course)
G'day, From another Australian Chris to the pair of you - German AND Australian, both of you are invited to backtrack me to my Videos. Three weeks back, "Putin's Pressing Problem..., Global Warming ; General Winter Has Switched Sides !" and on day 2 or 3 of the Invasions of Ukraine, "How Many Carpets Will Putin Eat...; Winning At War ?" My next Video, currently brewing, is tentatively titled, "Expel Russia From The UN Security Council...?" Based on the points that the Veto Powers of the UN Security Council were established for the British Commonwealth, the United States of AmeriKa, and the United Soviet Socialist Republics. The USSR died, in 1990. PoohTin is somehow STILL excercising the Veto Power which was granted to Stalin's USSR ; and PoohTin is not Stalin, while Russia is not the USSR. Therefore, expel Russia from the Security Council for not being the USSR, then pass a UN Resolution to establish a No Invasion Zone where Ukraine is, and have the UN invite NATO to Airstrike ALL Russian Units which are failing to retreat towards their Russian, Belarussian, & Crimean Border Start Lines If Russia attempts to fight the entire UN..., then Nuke Moscow YESTERDAY. Perfectly LAWFUL under ALL the International Laws of Waaauugh(!). Just(ifiably ?) sayin', Have a good one... Stay safe. ;-p Ciao !
@@Wuppie62 G'day, All the same places where they're already targeted. What's your problem with a bunch of EuroPeons decorating each other's Skyscapes with Cloudy Mushrooms ? Last time I tasted Fallout on the morning Porridge was 1963, when QE-II was pleased to command her Britannic Majesty's Royal Air Farce to conduct a Missile Warhead Fratricide Test upwind of me (Maralinga, SA, versus Northern NSW), by deliberately desynchronising the conventional Explosives surrounding a Plutonium Walnut - to achieve a "Fizzle-Yield" ; which blew most of the Pu. to Dust and Powder, and scattered it into the Atmosphere. The Northern Hemisphereans ALWAYS assured us in Oz and the Kiwis and New Caledonians that it was "Perfectly Safe" when they were testing Nukes for NATO and the Frog-Eater's Farce De Frappe in the Southern Hemisphere... Surely, Sauce for the Goose is Sauce for the Gander ; so ALL your expensively-handcrafted NukeYOUlater Waauugh(!)heads surely must be EQUALLY Safe going FlashPopBOOOM ! upwind of the people whose Taxes bought and paid for all those shinyShinySHINY Bright high-tech Death Machines. Quod Erat Demonstrandum, Olde Bean... "Rule, Britannia !" As they say, What ?... (Look up "Sardonicism"...). Such is life, Have a good one... Stay safe. ;-p Ciao !
14 years. So RUclips was 3 years old when someone registered the screen name "chris", one of the most common names in the western world. Assuming we can't register duplicates without some Unicode character tricks, be well chris, first Chris, just plain old chris of RUclips.
It's really hilarious, that this was like one of the best news of the week in Poland, of all countries. Looks like finally we might be getting to the point where the EU, all of us, can defend ourselves without US support.
@@SkywalkerWroc Haha that's an interesting point, times have changed I guess. I hope Italy and France (as well as Spain and Poland to a lesser degree) follow suit, although they have less "catching up" to do compared to Germany.
@@lucadipaolo1997Macron announced last night an increase in the army budget and it is also on the program of the other candidates. But as you said the state of the French army and the German army has nothing to do, we produce our own weapons (of very high quality) we already have projection power and we have the experience of many conflicts (look at our deployment in Mali). We are also a nuclear power (the 4th or 3rd depending on the ranking or is above or below China) We are the first army in Europe slightly ahead of the British After Macron announced yesterday invited the 27 to Versailles to discuss the creation of a Europe of defense
@@cheveuxjaunes2782 That's good to hear, well, now let's hope Italy does something as well, without the UK, in the EU the main 3 might need to beef up a bit more. I hope something comes out of Macron's proposal, and having France is going to be key as you said, not only do you build some fine equipment (the Rafale is a masterpiece), and being a nuclear power is going to guarantee that the EU army is going to be a better deal for EU countries than NATO ever could.
@@lucadipaolo1997 taly is already gaining momentum on the maritime level for some years we have built our FREEM frigates in colaboration with them and the United States have taken over their disign. They are already the 7th maritime power in the world. They have embarked on a new type of destroyer, the DDX, but I find that there are good articles on it. They are also in collaboration with the British, Sweden and Japan on the Tempest, another 6th generation program than the FACS (it is interesting to note that all the participants in the program are mainly maritime forces). In short, Italy has chosen to specialize. I think that if we create a European force it's a good thing to rely on the talents and specificities of each.
About the MGCS: It wont be a Leopard chassis with a LeClerk turret, that was just a demonstrator to show how nice France and Germany can work together. MGCS will be a completely new vehicle/vehicle family.
Yes. It was a show of impotence and decadence. Making useless weapons to please journalists. In a real EU, there would be specialisation of states for different equipments to avoid useless paperwork. Here, what we'll get is tons of weapons with US components, emergency purchace of US F35 to cripple the EU aeronautics industry. Useless politicians who will promote US foreign legions. US leadership, US equipment, araboafrican soldiers (Europeans make no children) and European taxed. Meanwhile, the US military will keep declining. It's essentially a paradise of racial quotas whose main politicy is LGBT inclusion training. Meanwhile, the US tech companies full of foreign workers don't want to collaborate on military projects because that's too patriotic.
That was to show that Nexter and KMW were able to work with inteligence together .... that was totally destroid by the forcing from rheinmetall in the bundestag I think.... this project is going nowhere since Rheinmetall enter the dance and totally shift the initial concept and 50-50 share between Nexter France and KMW Germany.
From the Dutch perspective I can only say that I'm delighted that Germany seems to take a leading role on the military plain in Europe. The constitutional anti-militarism tradition has felt uneasy the last three decades. And Germany has inspired smaller countries like Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands, to neglect their armed forces in similar fashion while relying on 'soft power.' In fact, it was buying external security on the cheap and have others do the heavy lifting, while money not spended on defence landed in the pockets of vast industrial and commercial conglomerates (by having to pay less taxes), thus buying a profit for their shareholders and gaining nothing worth mentioning for ordinary citizens. The latter with very predictable results: increasing distrust, the rise of populism if not outright extremism. I hope that this policy shift not only will strengthen the Bundeswehr considerably, I also hope it will lead to an renewed validation of what government and the balance between public and private sector. IWith the latter I refer to the so called Rheinland-model of social democracy, which in my view has too readily been relinquished for the anglo-saxon model (almost unrestricted capitalism). Market economy does many things right, but when it comes to the social aspect it's a monster with no allegiance to country, people or values. In Putin we see how far this leniency and reliance on trade as a powertool has taken us - trade has only bolstered his power and fellow cleptocrats, even when his regime was poised to our demise. Either way, it's good to see that Germany steps out of its own shadow. I know of few nations that have built such a stable democracy or that value integrity more than the German people. It's time Germany exported that inner civilization alongside with Volkswagens. ;)
sorry to burst your bubble but no matter the amount of money Germany throws/squanders at the military, nothing good will come out of it. most of the money will just fill the pockets of arms dealers. the equipment it might buy will be overpriced and hopefully never get used anyway. besides, there are simply not enough young people willing to sign contracts to become professional soldiers since Germany doesnt enforce mandatory conscription anymore. plus the €100bn extraordinary spending package for the military will be paid for by ordinary taxpayers only. the free democrats in government with their 'no new taxes and certainly not raising taxes for the already rich' mantra will make sure of that. what is it with chancellors from the social democrats and filling the pockets of arms manufacturers? Helmut Schmidt risked his office for Pershing missiles, Schröder sent the Bundeswehr fighting outside NATO in Kosovo and now Scholz is ballooning the military budget out of any proportions. conservative chancellors avoid dirtying their hands that way. Scholz probably will pay for that at the polls
@@embreis2257 That's the exasct point I'm making when talking about re-embracing the Rheinland model of social democracy. Defence industries (and other multinationals) have got to be kicked back into submission to state and people, instead of people stuffing their pockets for overprized systems that do not work properly half of the time. That will require quite a bit of statecraft and will prove to be quite a chellenge no doubt, but last time I checked Germany was a constitutional democracy (legally that is) and that provides leverage. Second, I served as a conscript in the Dutch Army and hardly anyone wanted to serve. Nevertheless, the time that we could regard government as a jukebox that only played the tunes we paid for, is over as of now. Conscription (Wehrpflicht) is as good as inevitable. And to my mind, that's a good thing. I see millions of spoiled, bored young men (and women) who could do with a bit of discipline (and no, I don't mean blind obedience!) and obligatory fresh air, exercise and being stuffed in groups of people they'd normally wouldn't encounter in their lives. Also a great integration machine for the children of naturalized immigrants by the way. Back in the day we had all colours from all corners of the earth in my outfit (infantry) and we are brothers until this day. Final point: having worked with both German arms/equipment and in close cooperation with German soldiers, I can only say that apart from readiness numbers they were top notch. You can leave that to Germans; they do everything meticulously - if given the chance. The German troops that were being deployed over the years did excellent work and stood out by their integrity, professionalism, flexibility and - which some people might surprise - their humanity. If you're afraid that the billions being spent will not be used; let's hope that's not ncessary, at least not in anger. Other than that, if the increased numbers succeed in deterence, they will have been used properly. You may regard any Euro spent on defence as a waste; I've been witness to more than one war to know it isn't. At least not in the hands of soldier-civilians who elected their leaders and are held to defend their constitution and human rights. Despots the likes of Putin can only be stopped with force, not by sitting on one's hands or going to demonstrations. There's certainly a lot in Germany that can be improved, mainly for the least well off in society. But to think that complaining and criticizing will bring change about, is the kind of attitude I'm done with, whether it is in Germany or in my own country. I haven't served to see it all squandered by self sattisfied decadents whose only contribution consists of crying wolf. We need to roll up our sleeves and help reshaping the future, our future, by reclaiming democracy and defending it most vigorously. The time for fashionable non allignment has passed. Period.
@@embreis2257 pretty accurate. The German Military is an infamous money burning machine, totally corrupt and led by incompetent grandmas for more than a decade now. Our military investment already is on par with that of Russia and while they maintain multiple wars and a gigantic army with nuclear capabilities, German Soldiers among other basic equipment lacked helmets when deployed to Afghanistan recently. Just throwing money at the Armed Forces will not lead to anything as organic growth is needed to get towards a somewhat less dysfunctional state. Also Germany has among the worlds lowest will to fight and patriotism concerning general population sentiment, that will only increase with the largely non-German birth cohorts paired with liberal education.
As an outside observer, I always thought Germany with the end of the cold war and the reunification felt fairly safe in the protective shell of NATO and did not feel the need to increase their military spending. That coupled with the ever-present anti-minitariam sentiment present in German politics led them to not place as high a priority on their military. Unfortunately, this led them to not properly consider their own energy security needs becoming far too dependent on Russian energy exports. The invasion was an abrupt wake-up call for them. Hopefully, they learned their lesson.
@@davethompson3326 German has a large high technology air force but it was too scared to let people see that it had such a thing. That has now all changed and will allow German to have their 250 cutting edge aircraft active. France, Germany and UK can easily put several hundred fighter aircraft in the skies over Europe in such a war. The French and UK navy forces combined is larger than Russia's. So France could hold the mediterranean and Britain can hold the Norwegian Sea and atlantic access. Russia ace is their nuclear missiles but can they use them in the field without getting hit them self?
Comparably to what Germany faced during the cold war - keep in mind it was split in half between the blocks and if the cold war had become hot it would've been where most of the land and air fighting would've taken place - it could still feel fairly safe. But it's still a good thing to rediscover the need to protect it's way of life. Because many people might discover that what they have is worth protection and not taking everything for granted.
Well seeing them announcing they buy american equipment it feels like Germany now is ready to pay USA for that protective shell, more than it feels like a country that now want to invest in their own defense.
@@bighands69 You are right about European military forces, but please consider that UK leaved EU in big part because of Germany's political choice, and that that same sentiment is ever-growing in France also as well as in Italy and Spain. See that in this annonce, once again, Germany clearly state their primary partnership is with USA not with EU partners. Putting money into F35 program instead of in European FCAS program is a clear political statement of that. Now take all that into account and re-asses what you just said about European military forces and Germany. You must see something going wrong there.
Thanks for the video. I am very happy to see Germany getting back into a stronger defense position, especially as Germany is a leader in Europe. Also glad to see their quick decision to send armaments to Ukraine. Germany in many ways owes Ukraine from the tragedy in WW2. I would love to see Germany really embrace helping Ukrainians more and more, in a reconciliation manner. More love, more support from Germany.
The same is true for The Netherlands. In 2018 we were at 1.2% of the GDP. That has since increased to 1.5. But now that this has happened, practically all parties are in favor of increasing military spending. We will probably meet 2% as well. But what I'm thinking is that, more than just throwing more money at it, we might want to reconsider European defence. At least in terms of acquisition programs. Even now we are already spending more than Russia and China combined (at least if you can believe the Chinese defence spending numbers). But it's really not efficient. For example, The Netherlands and Belgium are going to buy 2 new frigates each. So 4 in total. But if we were to build not 4 but perhaps 20 or more, for various nations, the cost per ship comes down, and standardisation across Europe goes up. Long-term, maybe it should actually be about more than acquisition programs though. The thing is, the USA is going to have to put its attention more and more on China, and less and less on Europe. We might have to fend for ourselves more than we have done in a long time. At least, that's what I think.
People have been talking about a "pivot to China" since 2008 but I have yet to see it actually happen. The US military is large and powerful enough such that the current US posture remains well-balanced for both European and Pacific theaters like it had been for decades.
What the EU really needs is standardization for all EU members and integration of national forces, that's really going to cut down the cost of gear and equipment and seriously increase the combat effectiveness of the EU if they have to fight side by side. Otherwise everyone is spending a lot of money for gear and when war comes they'll be basically fighting alone with unreliable and untrusted allies on the flanks. The problem however is always local jobs and keeping the existing military industrial complex, just in case this union doesn't work out. If everyone buys the HK 416 that's basically rifles the French, Belgian, Romanian, Polish etc. factories arn't building. And if they arn't building rifles they can't pay their workers and if the workers arn't payed they move on and that kills the factory and loses the know how. And know how is something you really don't wanna lose because it's stupidly hard and expensive to get back.
@@musicmaster417 It just has 16 VLS cells though, in its current design concept. The LCF has 40, and that's already about 20 years old. I would say 32 is a minimum.
This whole thing has been a long time coming, didn't believe I'd live to see the politicians start realizing the world isn't wrapped in cotton candy. I think that may be the only speech by a german politician I have ever watched in its entirety and around the middle I realized my mouth was literally hanging open. For 15 years I've been saying we need to get our heads out of our asses and here we are. Thanks Putin :D
Love how the Japan Army is called "Self Defence Force", tells a lot about their sentiment regarding the past, can't imagine the German feeling on budget groth...
Actually, the German relations with its army are a bit different to Japan. Japan has homed a really big pacifist movement, which even wrote pacifism into its constitution and fought the Japanese-US military alliance post-WW2 on the streets. Germany was immediately divided and thrown into the cold war, with both the Bundeswehr and NVA largely continuing German military tradition. And nowadays the approval rating of the Bundeswehr is at an all-time high afaik.
Japan has finally broken with its 1945 treaty terms and is rapidly changing its military stance out of necessity with China’s belligerent behavior toward its neighbors and in the South China Sea with its unfounded determination to invade Taiwan. Taiwan is not only control over the world’s top chip maker and the realization of their imagined 9-dash line, controlling of the shipping route, but also a springboard for world dominance. China has held a deep grudge toward Japan for the atrocious actions of the Imperial Japanese government leading up to World War II. Japan most recently expressed a desire for the US to station a nuclear defense from Japan. So Japan has definitely changed their tune, quite widely I might add.
"Self defense force" is enforced by the US-made Japanese constitution. Japan doesn't teach WW2 history and their atrocities while also have always wanted to change their constitution.
Fusing the Leopard 2 chassis with the Leclerc turret was just a technology demonstrator that the two companies can work together (although it might get sold if there should be a customer), MGCS will be a new design.
I just looked it up and Jesus. The armor angles are impeccable!! So many projectiles gonna be bouncing if being driven by an actual experienced driver in angling
As a German American who has seen both sides very clearly i have a few comments on the whole change in German Foreign Policie. The first is that I was shocked by this change. From my American view it appeared that germany had its head so far up its own ass that I didn't think it would actually be able to pull itself out of its dangerously complacent world views. This policy shift is neccessary. For far to long have the germans ignored the russian threat a few miles away. However, more then that the real reason why this makes me happy is because germany needs to start to see its army in a new light. They should absolutely keep the mistrust and distaste for millitary conflicts as it would mean the german army won't get involved in the stupid wars the US army is constantly fighting. Howevera strong army is also neccessary for the defense of a democratic nation and it is high time the German being to see there army less as a liabillity and more like a tool in the tool box to defend freedom. Overall these changes in policy took way to long to happen and if they actually go through will rob putin of any chance at an actual meaningful win in Ukraine.
if we rearm it would be a waste of money of we dont put the weapons to use. As I See it. We will follow france and usa example and secure resources for our companies to keep the Bundeswehr busy. off course all in the Name of peace keeping, Nation building, democracy defending, & c.
@@TremereTT Yep and theres the simple German response which has now led to you being caught with your pants down. An Army doesnt need to be used to be effective. The best army in the world would be one that is so terrifying it would never be used. Having a strong army is a requirement for Germany at this point. The USA is a fading hegemon and we won't be in europe forever. We can't defend all parts of the world like we used to and the America gaze is shifting to the pacific. This could make europe vulnerable to russian expansionism or chinese interference unless Germany has the millitary might that it make assertions like " Stop interfering in our politics" and have the opposing side take it with absolute seriousness. Also when it comes to armys intention is all. Germany is intent on never being the bad guy again and keeping out of wars. During the 1970s Germany was one of the strongest nato members and it never got into any war. Likewise Japan is one of the strongest nations the USA is allied. They have a well equipped and competent fighting force that has never seen any conflict since 1945. Why ? Because is expressely a defense force and is forbidden from fighitng. German has a Bundeswher. Not an army. That tells you every thing you need to know. The idea that a rearmed germany will suddenly become an interventionist power is bs. Because they already had been rearmed at a point and during that time they didn't send there troops abraod,.
From the perspective of a Scottish, English, Irish, Polish, Danish, British person I agree. I was talking with my Irish, Dutch, Greek Canadian friend last Thursday and we all agreed that our French, Colombian, Spanish, Mexican friend had the right if it too. German American.. wtf. Pick one you dozy b******
As British guy who moved to America 20 years ago, I am also happy to see Germany get back in the game. Thanks for educating and transcribing what is going on over there, very educational.
Congrats Germany…it’s been long enough now…excited for my German brothers and sisters to be able to fully defend themselves once more…love and respect from England 🇬🇧❤️
This is probably the first time in modern history where rearming germany is a good thing. Jokes aside I'm glad that this crisis had at least some positive outcomes, it unified west (as a Czech, I always hated tha lot of our politicians were more pro russian and against west) and NATO finally does something that doesn't involve Middle east and its bit of a wake up call to everyone. It really sucks that we needed this to finally work together. Now I just hope NATO accepts more state before its too late
@al rode Not a great idea, the last time we got involved in Libya it didn't end well. We really need to quit with the force projection and throwing our weight around and just focus on defence. This is not only for practical reason but also for the sake of NATO's global reputation because right now China can honestly claim to have more respect for national sovereignty than the west, that's a sad state of affairs if ever there was one.
@@ddandymann National sovereignty is not the be all, end all as dictators crushing protestors have attested to. More to the fact; it doesn't matter what the West does as the likes of Russia and China will just twist it to their advantage -like Russians and Chinese claiming the former's invasion of Ukraine is fine because of the "2014 coup".
Sweden has also come out with something similar the last few days. I think most European countries are panicking right now, besides France we have all been cutting far too much military spending the last 30 years. I am not sure Putin really thought this through, instead of making Russia's position stronger he has in fact made it weaker. And if he actually plan to revive the Soviet union then he plans to retake a lot more then just Ukraine, EU needs to be strong here. But we really need to get rid of our dependency of Russian natural gas. Germany's decision to get rid of nuclear power and import more gas was not a great one. EU have an energy crisis (except for France) and we need to solve that. It might just be that we wont be able to buy fuel from Russia anymore so we need to solve that fast. It is as important as getting our military up to snuff (not as fun to talk about though).
Well Czech rep has 2 large nuclear plants which output we share with german powergrid anyway. Lot of coal plants are still serviceable if need be... and Ukraine also has big reserves of natural gas, though most of the around Crimea and Donbass. Which might have been the real reason for the 2014 invasion.
@@SC0RCH3er I think the real reason is that Ukraine started to improve it's economy and that makes Russia seem inept since it's economy is a mess. 2014 was likely more of a test to see how much the rest of the world would care. Sadly, the rest of the world didn't do enough back then which leads us to this situation. 2 nuclear power plants wont be enough to keep up the slack for all the German plants so we will sadly have to choose between coal and sucking up to the Russians, at least until other options can be made. And yeah, coal is the right decision as a temporary solution. The idea to class natural as as eco friendly was a stupid idea anyways. EU needs a mix of solar, water, wind and nuclear power plants to provide our energy needs for the next 20 years at least. Energy needs is likely to triple (uh, source: Elon Musk so it might be more or less) during that time and EU honestly needs to be able to provide that for themselves. Relying on import is a bad idea. We Swedes are not doing great either, we have got rid of half our nuclear plants and while we do have some water and wind power that isn't enough. Politicians are currently fighting if we should get more nuclear reactors or less. Seriously, I have no idea how we got into a situation like this from the start. It is bad enough to be relying on oil from outside the union but EU can never be a true powerhouse until we can produce our own energy without importing all the fuel for it. It seems like France is the only nation who thought this through (at least the only really large).
@@loke6664 France did think strategically about energy when they decided to build their existing nuclear reactors back in the 1980s and they've reaped the benefits since, including energy independence, cheap electricity and last, but not least, relatively low CO2 emissions for the size of their economy. However, even France has dithered in committing to building new reactors to replace the old ones, which are finally coming to the end of their lives. Additionally, their over dependence on NP means they haven't invested enough in Renewables (especially compared to Germany) and are now having to play catch up. I think Musk was probably referring to demand for Electricity (not Energy) increasing significantly, because of the transition from ICE to EVs. This is also one of the reasons why NP is needed along with Renewables, to meet future electricity needs without relying on Fossil Fuels.
@@loke6664 we got into that situation due to open and covert interference from a fifth column of Communists and “greens”, some of whom were on Moscow’s payroll, others just very useful idiots.
@N Fels You are right, particularly logistically this is incredible inept. We can't really rely on that the next invasion will be handled as incompetently though, they might replace Putin's buddies with someone who is actually competent. Russia impressed no one when Germany first attacked them during WW2 but they eventually got their shit together. Assuming that an attacker would act stupid is not a great idea, if they do like in this case, great but it isn't something you should plan for.
Si vis pacem para bellum, still relevant today. At least I'm happy that we're at a point in history where I, as a Pole, felt relief upon hearing the news of Germany's rearmament. Of course I'd be much much happier if there was no reason to rearm... слава україні 🇺🇦
Indeed, if you want peace, prepare for war. True words, in any generation & epoch. Glad to see more nations getting their spending up to the NATO required 2% of GDP.
I’m glad to hear that Germany is seeming to shake off it’s appeasement doctrine concerning Russia. A strong German military can make a HUGE difference in world stability and counterbalancing autocratic tendencies……not just in Europe….but worldwide.
13:56 I can't help but hear a faint laughter from the crowd when he mentioned "in good time" regarding the replacement of the Tornados. Yes please do hurry before even their value as museum and/or collectable jets plummet further, ja?
Right now is not the time to replace Tornados as Germany will need every aircraft they can get their hands on to get them in the air. Russia has about 900 fighter jets and Europe needs to get everything they have in active status.
Honestly, I'm watching all of this in ecstasy. All of those arguments over whether or not defense equipment was still "relevant", all of those arguments for more reliance on "diplomacy" over military might, all of those arguments for a smaller, streamlined, EU military to replace NATO... all gone in the blink of an eye. Amazing what one single world event can do.
it's like deciding you're not going to lock your door because you haven't been robbed all year. And now that the neighbors are getting cleaned out, they're running out and buying security cameras...
where were you during the Ukraine's shelling of civilians in Donbass that has been going on since 2014 killing thousands of civilians ?? where were you when NATO bombed old yougoslavia killing thousands of civilians ? where were you when the US attacked Iraq because of invented WMD's and killed millions ? where were you when US and NATO friends attacked Afghanistan and killed hundreds of thousand of innocent civilians ? where were you when the US invaded Syria and still illegally occupies a portion of its territory ? Where do you live ? The US and it's NATO vassals have to be stopped. Now. Europe should wake up and stop being nothing but a US military base. European country should regain their sovereignty.
@@windwaveswindwaves5329 They don't care about those casualties because they see them as Russian cats paws. The problem is it's not as simple as all of these PowerPoint rangers seem to think. This was entirely predictable, Russia's been twitchy about its western border since forever because Europe won't stop invading them. NATO accomplished its mission back in 1990 yet here we are pushing an anti-russian alliance right to their border. Let's just hope the idiots don't get us all nuked.
I'm amazed that most people are just swallowing all the propaganda about Russia and Ukraine coming from every side without a trace of skepticism or investigation. You'd think after having witnessed nearly two years of propaganda about COVID from the politicians and "news" media that would have wised people up, but evidently not. Evidently they will still swallow without thinking whatever some talking head on the TV news says.
Chris: _Ich bin Amerikaner von Geburt, Italiener von Erbe._ I can't speak for all Americans, but many of us have been wondering what the hell Germany has been doing with regard to energy and defense policy. That's especially true for those of us in science & engineering, who respect Germany's history of excellence in those fields. So, this video brings very welcome news! I certainly trust your news about Germany more than anything I expect to get from mainstream American media. Thanks for a great video!
We were just naive. We thought we could be friends with everyone (even russia) and that the military is a waste of money, because we would never again see an actual war right here in europe...
@@Gulabaff - It's a commendable attitude to try to be a friend to those who will reciprocate. Unfortunately, that does not include everyone. Some people cannot have a friend because they do not know how to BE a friend. Friendship involves trust, and some people are not trustworthy, or will not trust others, or both. It must be a miserable, lonely, desperate life. Such people are capable of great violence. I can understand the hope that Europe would never again see war, but from my perspective, war is inevitable as long as political states exist...and not only in Europe. War is simply a greater degree of what states already do-namely, use legalized coercion to control people. In the "democracies", the coercion is not naked force. Rather, it's the subtler coercion by fraud that results from the myth that we are free because we can choose our tyrants. It's not clear what Russia hopes to accomplish by its recent actions. It's not even clear that Ukraine (by which I mean the Ukrainian state) is the innocent victim that is being portrayed in the media. What is clear is that people are suffering and dying at the hands of politicians. It's an old story that never changes, yet the human species cannot seem to break the addiction to the belief that political states are the only way to govern ourselves. Anyhow, until we break that addiction, we're stuck with what we have, and we still have to defend ourselves if we're attacked. Tne best way to minimize the possibility of war is to be absolutely prepared for it, to the point where anyone who is damn fool enough to try attacking receives a lesson in the inadvisability of doing so. For my part, I believe the world would be much better off with a strong Germany, using that strength not for aggression but for instructing others that aggression is a very bad idea that will not end well for those who try it.
I was dumbstruck during the whole last week, I completely believed that Russia would annex the 'Republics' officially, never that they would invade. Chris, at least the Silver lining in this situation is that the world is reminded how quick and violent something can become, and that maybe this will stop other wars from occurring in the future... No matter how awful that is to say.
No that is not what Russia is doing. They are building a new empire and that means they are coming for the whole of Europe. They are under the impression that the west is mentally weak right now. Just like what the Japanese imperial war machine thought in WW2 when it attack America. The West needs to send out the message "We have nuclear weapons to" so as to dispel the idea in Russia that they can carry out strikes with no consequences.
@@bighands69 You are absolutely correct. Of course it doesn't help the West to have 'the Ginger Pussi-Grabber' (exPresident Trump) say as Chris indicated Putin's a 'great guy' or more recently that Putin's genocide in Ukraine made him a 'Genius'. Here in the UK most people think: (i) The GP-G will say whatever Putin tells him too - Bbecause Putin has some serious 'dirt'( 'kompromat' is the Russian term) on him. Some rumours have been around suggesting 'not only the girl but also the goat were under-age' (- But of course no one outside Putin & Trump know for sure and I wouldn't say that myself ;-p ) (ii) It appears Trump may have already sold Ukraine down the river when he blocked weapons supplies because Ukraine would not forge corruption deals with Biden's son. (iii) Many in England regard the GP-G as an absolute 'Berk'. (Which is actually a contraction of 'Berkshire Hunt'). (iv) And finally that, in England we rather enjoy rhyming slang.
@@bighands69 ". The West needs to send out the message "We have nuclear weapons to" so as to dispel the idea in Russia that they can carry out strikes with no consequences." NO. Nuclear weapons are irrelevant in this context. Furthermore, the previously relied upon assertion of M.A.D. ( Mutually Assured Destruction) is also irrelevant because "Russia" Does Not Exist. What does that mean? It means that a nation state with a national identity and self interest has been supplanted by a loose coalition of nationless oligarchs and "Russia" exists only as an extradition free base to operate from, with their money hidden and sheltered in Switzerland, Great Britain and other entities. As a dictatorship with none of the democratic checks and balances, Russia can thus weather financial austerity, sanctions or even a high death count for their adventures, without ever being called to task. What the West has to do, is not sabre rattle with impotent threats of nukes, but a willingness to establish deep and mutually painful sanctions, not just on Russia as a country but on the oligarchs, individually and personally. These sanctions have to extend to their immediate family circle as well, i.e. Those Who Profited Must Also Pay
@@stephenwilkinson1254 Maybe you need to go and write an academic paper on the subject so that nobody can read it. In the real world Nuclear weapons do matter hence why bloody Putin threatened countries with them.
As a german, we should 100% build our own planes but neither do we have the luxury of time nor is there the political will to do so. Buying state of the art jets from the US is the logical step. Longterm though the EU needs its own Army and Arms programs, It's too expensive for everyone to develop tanks and aircrafts individually. Beside the lack of a decent multipurpose aircraft, we desperately need transport helicopters, state of the art drones with option to be armed and our Anti air capabilities seem outdated aswell. Not sure if there is the political will for an own defensive ballistic grogram but we probably should have one either.
If you've ever researched Operation Paperclip they are in a roundabout sense distantly related to the first jets ever built. Not trying to be controversial, but it is essentially the facts.
The main problem is the amount of defects and terrible decisions made about that plane. Its uptime is ridiculously low compared to similarly capable aircraft (meaning it needs an absurd amount of maintenance), its stealth is a gimmick when fighting a modern army (don't get me wrong, it'll be great against some rebels in a distant country but certainly not against the Russians), its fighting capabilities are only decent when the stealth capabilities aren't factored in, and its associated costs are just way too steep (and don't get me started on the closed ecosystem of weapons that can actually be equipped on the F-35). The rest of your comment makes a lot of sense though.
I have one disagreement. Germany has not spend 2% of it's GDP on the Army, this year the plan was 1.4%. But in absolute numbers, because German GDP is big, the spending is quite substantial. Germany is #7 in the world slightly behind Russia and the UK, and on the same level as France. In regards to the Army size, about 180.000, this should have had the Bundeswehr well equipped. The point the the Bundeswehr did not have a sufficient budget is quite a red Hering. A big problem must be, how the money was spent. A huge expense is usually the navy, a big part of the expense in the UK for example. Germanie's navy is tiny compared. If the increased money is not wisely spend, one will not see much of an improvement.
Well, the state of the German Army is much worse than the state of any of the other countries that spend their money in the defense (industry or else) so, not sure you are in the 7th place (of what? I don't really get what ranking you were referring to) but no, you're definitely not on France's level (UK and France are on similar level, but I would rank Germany under Poland or Ukraine in term of actual capabilities. Especially considering the population and GDP of Germany, which you specifically pointed out as being so much more than the rest of Europe
@@jomai9059 which is irrelevant given the size of Germany population and GDP. The more people you need to defend, the more military (or the best equipment) you need. Which cost more money... I'll tell you the reason of your ineffective spending: most of the German military budget goes to administrators (federal and local desk sitters with no other goal than ensure the military don't cost to much) and not in the soldiers nor the military industry. Beside, France spend much more in nuclear force than Germany(no surprise here), and still find fundings for a new tank AND a new jet aircraft in cooperation with Germany. But the German parliament refuse to fund those projects fully. What's your excuse then, if you spend "the same level as France" ?
@@stitch77100 You asked "the 7th place of what?" and i answered your question. No need for any further reply of you. Overspending in the Bundeswehr is a Well known subject in Germany. (Looking at you, Ursula von der Leyen)
Unless you are fighting a primitive enemy you should always assume that the airspace near your enemy is contested. An F-35 that is NOT shot down by a SA-15 SAM system is a better value for the money than a cheaper fighter that is shot down.
@@Triggernlfrl If anything that's a reason for why Germany, as the largest economy in Europe, should be leading the charge with the expensive and more specialized aircraft
@@Triggernlfrl no fighter can outmanouvere a sam, even giant rockets like s400 can sustain 20 Gs. No plane can do that. you can just go defensive and run but then you also got no chance of killing the sam. stealth changes that and lets you get inside the range to fire HARMS etc....
Olaf Scholtz: only makes german copies of the new laws Christoph: makes himself the only way for Americans to know the new rules Also Christoph: *Gulps* ahhh
All German laws eventually get official translations at least into English and French. German, French and English are the three official languages of EU bureaucracy .
I wonder how do you and others in Germany see the timeline: Schröder ->shutting down nuclear power stations->Schröder starts working for Nord stream->pipelines are being built and making Germany dependent on Russian gas. Whilst Russian committed genocide in Chechnya, invaded Georgia, Annexed eastern Ukraine and Grimm. As an estonian I'm grateful for all the help we have gotten from Germany and EU. BUT: I/we wish you have heard of us, when we (The Baltic states) have been telling about the Russian expansionist wishes for a long time. About Putlers wishes to restore the Soviet Union. Western Europe either didn't believe them or did not want to hear the uncomfortable truth. Every time Putler made a move, world just watched in silence. Georgia, Chechnya , Grimm, and the "so called separate states in Ukraine. Nothing was done. At least as Putin saw it. In Russia strength is above everything. If you want to befriend a russian gopnik (a russian street criminal), beat the shit out of him..or at least give it all you can. Even if you loose, he will respect you. If you try to bribe him to be a friend, you will be his b*ch forever. So is with russia. And so far everyone has acted like a litte b'ch. Giving him gas money. Closing eyes to it's crimes. And every time Putler became bolder and greedier. Anyway, I always wondered how is everyone so calm with Schröder just starting to work with Russians (If he already wasn't before ;)
Yes we Germans have been on our moral high of pacifism and detachment of reality for the last couple of decades. It’s really an embarrassment that we needed a war to get that. The left parties in Germany and especially the SPD and “The Left” have close ties to russia. Schröder is Putins guy. So yeah let’s hope we are able to at least mitigate the damage done in the past now. Greetings
Schröder isn’t responsible Its Merkel The drive away from nuclear was due to domestic politics Merkel drove this train for 20 years, Schröder for a fifth of that
It started far before Merkel. Merkel was just a replacement for Schröder. In his first term, Schröder's government decided to phase out nuclear power. Funny how the replacement was Russian gas. Even "funnier" is how Schröder went to work straight from government to Russian gas company. And has pretty openly been russian mouthpiece since then. Yes I remember the anti nuclear demonstrations in Germany. How hard do you think is for russian agents to rile up couple hundred even thousand people to do so. Pay for well written anti nuclear power propaganda pieces etc. It was very successful op and now Germany, Ukraine and the who Europe is suffering the consequences.
@@haanjamiis well again… Schröder had one term and was in a coalition with the greens. Merkel had many terms with the „free market, freedom" party Many opportunities to change or influence course in order to avoid this outcome and dependency. Also to shape public opinion and have a strategic approach. She never did that. Merkel hurt germany and the eu very much in her 20 years
I think a EW version of the Eurofighter would be attractive to Britain as well, we dont currently operate anything in this role. The Eurofighter exports to the Middle East are going to finish production at the end of the year and BAE has started lobbying about this fact. Also the British Government see's Eurofighter as a development platform for Tempest with technology and equipment that will go into Tempest being matured on the Eurofighter. At the moment Britain is planning to retire its Tranche 1 Eurofighter in 2025 when they will have about 40% of their airframe life left as they are un-upgradeable (Currently 20 operational and 10 in storage) and is committed to the minimum F-35 buy but not to orders beyond that, these minimum orders have not yet been placed due to both cost and waiting for F-35 to come down in price/actually have all its systems fully working. At the moment 48 are planned to be acquired but they expect to order a peak of 60 and a further 20 beyond that for attrition of the early units over the aircrafts life. We have just had a large defence spending boost (though still not to a level that funds the entire equipment plan) but with whats going on I expect there will be pressure for a further defence increase (in particular with the Afghan performance even before the round the clock airlift of supplies to Ukraine the Government is reportedly interested in ordering more A400M).
I wonder though if the EW side is the main reason Sweden and Saab is involved. But combined maybe very potent product. Though not sure they will be so opend and cooperative.
When the so called Race of Euro-canards started (Eurofighter, Rafale and Gripen) it was Eurofighter which had a lead as it had 4 countries that were commmited to it, then was Rafale and then Gripen. Now, Rafale has bigger order book than both of them, I guess Indian testing and subsequent selection of Rafale gave confidence to many prospective buyers about Rafale. Eurofighter had issues because it had 4 countries trying to steer it in different directions. Since neither of these countries had any immediate threat, they were not that eager for upgrades. The AESA upgrade which was touted in 2011 has recently come about. but none of the partners were that eager for it. On the other hand Rafale, Gripen are having regular upgradess. Both these have operational planes using AESA and Meteor. The 4 countries 3 of them have Tornado which were to be replaced, but they never planned to develop A2G weapon systems beyond SCALP/Taurus. there was SPHEAR. This was so much evident that these air forces are thinking of buying some other plane to fulfill the strike role but not invest in development of A2G avionics and weapons. They do not plan to buy more planes than committed before, rather those committed nos have come down. Anyone who has purchased Eurofighter is now stuck without newer weapons or avionics. The spares are another problem altogether. EADS had earlier proposed carrier based Seatyphoon, but it did not go past a scale model. The 4 developers, none of them had a carrier when the idea was developed, then UK which had two carriers coming, prefered to order F-35B - F-35C instead of developing Sea Typhoon, that shows that even the core companies did not really believe in the product. Ordering is one thing, the people at helm need to know that the planes will be delivered at least 5 years after ordering, as there is big order book. Anything that is ordered now will take 4-5 years to deliver. Would have been better to order Airbus A-350 which Qatar Airways are refusing, those are available and can be fitted in months time. also the spares are easily available.
@@sachinmesta4238 The UK decision to opt for the F-35B (not C) for its RN aircraft carriers has nothing to do with a lack of confidence in the Typhoon. The UK is a development partner in the JSF, so it always intended to operate the F-35 and indeed, originally intended to acquire more units than it has so far. By contrast, the EF Typhoon was primarily intended as a specialized A2A interceptor, with both the UK and Germany continuing to rely on the Tornado for both A2G and EW until recently (as it neared retirement), which is why it took so long for A2G capabilities to be added to the former. The above decision is also partly why France, who wanted a true multi-role aircraft, left the EFA program to develop the Rafale. However, the EF has indeed been upgraded with the latest A2G weapons (Anglo-French Stormshadow/SCALP, US Paveway and UK Brimstone), anti-ship missiles (Italian Marte ER) and is finally also getting an AESA radar, albeit long overdue. It is also configured for METEOR and IRIS-T for A2A. It has taken almost 20 years for the EF to receive all these upgrades and become a multi-role fighter, but it's now just as capable as the Rafale. The UK decision to specialize the Typhoon crippled its export potential as most foreign buyers would prefer to purchase a single aircraft which can perform multiple roles. However, it's expected to remain in service with the consortium of 4 countries that developed it for another 20 years.
I can say eurofighter is already Successful in the Middle East the Saudi Air Force have 80 eurofighters and in Kuwait they will receive 40 eurofighters
Cooles Video Chris, ist zwar immer komisch Infos über Deutschland von einem Deutschen auf Englisch anzuhören aber immer gut zu sehen dass es jemanden gibt der das macht - und das so gut :) Weiter so!
Keep it coming Chris - I think spin free content such as yours is far more informative (& less nuanced) than the thin dross we get from the mainstream media.
Good video, for sure, except for the Trump spiel at the end. I’m one of those that voted for Trump the first time, and I abstained from voting the second time around. I can tell you that if the Biden admin maintains it’s current trajectory, Trump will be back in 2024. If you doubt that, just look at Biden’s ratings - they’re even worse than Trump’s were at the same stage of their presidencies.
@@khaldrago911 He's a dangerous lunatic with only a tenuous grip on reality & I say this as a life long conservative. Don't get me wrong; the alternative (Clinton) would have been disastrous & the media spent 5 years vilifying him but his intemperate drivel over the past 15 months is an embarrassment.
@@GARDENER42 he sure is crazy, and that’s probably what kept Putin (and others) honest during his 4 years. If it’s a choice between Joe and his ho or Trump in 2024, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Donald takes the Oval Office again, especially going off recent poll numbers. It sure ain’t looking pretty for sleepy Joe.
The 2% promise is from 2006 and it likely took a long time to get to that. Instead of keeping the promise they gradually cut spending. Yes, the new guy is repeating the promise but we need to see what he actually does when the current crisis ends.
@@carlosandleon Let's hope so or Germany might just be posing for the camera to look good now. Action speaks louder than words when it comes to Germany.
German has an air force of about 250 potential fighter craft and that will probably mean the first part of spending will be getting that operation and in active status as quickly as possible. And then acquiring another 50 to 100 aircraft. All the major European countries will be doing the same thing. Germany will also be activating its great air defence capabilities. All of this needs to be happening at a yesterdays pace meaning they need to be fast acting and decisive.
not really. Germany was absolutely peer pressured into doing this. SPD are absolutely russian lovers and theyd still be doing it if not for the pressure.
@@Keckegenkai I honestly don't care how this happened, it's important that it happened. Scholz basically told the nation that they shouldn't dream about warm ice cream and that Germany needs a functioning, effective military, and he also said that tons of money would be provided to achieve this. While I am absolutely no fan of modern leftist politics, I honestly think Scholz is the right man for the job. As an Austrian, I am not that familiar with German domestic politics, but Scholz always made a pragmatic impression on me.
The 2% promise is from 2006 and it likely took a long time to get to that. Instead of keeping the promise they gradually cut spending. Yes, the new guy is repeating the promise but we need to see what he actually does when the current crisis ends.
@@michaelkovacic2608 not gonna happen probably. We already have a 50billion military budget; a budget that is on par with France, yet nothing to show for it. There needs to be a fundamental change before throwing money at it, but I simply not seeing the will to change anything. The money will line the pockets of consultants at McKinsey, politicians and friends of Ursula von der Leyen, like it did before.
@@Keckegenkai yes, I always wondered about the difference in military power of Germany and France, since their budget is pretty much the same right now. Germany certainly needs to urgently adress this issue.
I’ve been arguing that Canada needs more warships and planes. Even jokingly call myself the rare Canadian war monger. I suspect a lot of people are coming around to my point of view here too.
As a fellow Canadian I agree. I'm not a war monger by any stretch either, but Canadians seem willing to support our military only if we don't spend money doing it :(
A more militarized Germany makes sense, given its geopolitical position. They share a continent with a belligerent power, and they can’t necessarily rely completely on the US military . Militarized Canada? Doesn’t make sense. Literally nobody is attacking Canada from across an ocean, and if they did, the US military is *guaranteed* to respond. Canada is in a very privileged position, it would be foolish to spend more than necessary on defense.
Even as an American I feel we need more warships, considering our rival is destroying us with tons in the water. Hopefully this will be a wakeup call to those Americans that believe China is an empty threat and a war with them will never happen.
Great video!! Vielen Dank für diese sehr gute Beurteilung und Einschätzung der gesamten Thematik - Das Video ist m.E. genau auf den Punkt gebracht!!👍👍 Das mit „Fan of Schalke“ müssen wir uns aber nochmal genauer anschauen .. 🤣
Russia rebuilds USSR, Germany calls shots in Europe and is one of the biggest military powers and there's a rising empire in Asia. How does 2041 look so much as 1941? This is the worst timeline.
same here in switzerland. some politicians from the Socialist party conceeded that their assumption that conventional wars were a thing of the past was wrong but sadly the people behind the possible referendum against the new F-35 haven't stopped collecting signatures for it
Macron made a discorus yesterday and he indicated that he wanted to bring together the 27 at Versailles on March 12 to discuss the creation of the Europe of defence. I looked at the foreign media nobody talks about it. It may be a bit early but hey it's still major. It is a project that France has been carrying out for a long time but which has never found much support among other nations which prefer to rely on NATO. But with Germany's turnaround and the current situation, does this have a chance of succeeding? He also announced an increase in the budget at the French level (but not quantified in his speech) but it is less major than for Germany since France already had a projection army
Europe needs US support as well. It will take a while for Germany to rebuild its armed forces. We can have that in addition to NATO, but not instead of NATO.
@@Kynos1 It is not a question of replacing NATO but of no longer being solely dependent on the United States especially if russia and china coordinate in their attacks, what are you going to do? There is also the question of strategic autonomy, we want to want to act on our own
@@cheveuxjaunes2782 I get what you mean. Germany is currently massively increasing military spending, but it will take some time for Germany to be ready to play its role. I think, in the future, it will be the UK´s, France´s and Germany´s responsibility to keep Russia in check while the US takes care of China.
Excellent video; puts the words from Germany into perspective. One note: You mentioned the Defens(c)e Investment Pledge from the 2014 Wales Summit (2%). There is one additional stipulation to that: 20% of that spending needs to be used on new major end items, to include the R&D for these items. This tends to be forgotten as a stipulation and was added to ensure countries didn't just dump administrative costs into their defense budget to meet the percentage (like one country that added military pensions to get above the 2%).
Hi Chris, I posted a snarky quip on twitter saying Germany should do a "Ostpreussen heim ins Reich" to Russia, which I almost immediately regretted for obvious reasons, but to be honest, this whole situation scares the living daylight out of me. I worked for the US Air Force in West Berlin back in the 80s and the management of NATO and the Warsaw Pact alliances were far more rational than the current crop of people. The communication and safeguards between them were institutions, not the whims of people of dubious rationality. I fear this will get far worse before the end.
People were saying the exact same thing during the Berlin Blockade (well, other than the Reich joke). It will pass. Although, let's not kid ourselves, we are firmly in Cold War II.
All I know is that Hunter Biden's laptop is very sad about Ukraine, since it means the Biden clan can no longer milk that sweet, sweet cash out of Ukraine.
Unrelated, but as a yank, I'm saying ute from now on. "Throw it in the back of the ute" is fun to say and I love the confused looks I get, it's hilarious.
Well, as a German myself I can only say that it's so very painful to read comments or hear news about Germany in the English speaking press. It's really painful every single time because it's so obvious that they don't even understand how legal processes work here. As an example: when the new government was elected, which consists of three political parties, the US media wrote "Germany won't be such a reliable partner anymore" - because Americans just can't imagine that politicians from three parties actually TALK with each other to find a good solution, instead of just screaming at each other and telling the media that the enemy party is bad. I think we have a completely different sense of democracy here and we don't really perceive the American political 2-party-system as good for democracy.
@@Rauschgenerator They also kinda forget that minority, multi-party governments have been the kind of governments we have had _for decades._ Also, lol that username :D
@@cy-one A "Rauschgenerator" is a part of vintage sound chips in retro computers like the C64 or Atari ST ;-) My channel is a retro-computer channel ;-) And well, I talk so much that I thought this would be ambiguous^^. I think in Germany we were lucky with quite stable 2-party-coalitions all the time. Not like Italy or France, which were always quite chaotic.
As revealed by the present conflict: In addition to the present types of drones we also need an ultra cheap low radar visibility top attack swarm drone to deliver constant and continuing attrition on groups of moving vehicles. Foam shapes covered in carbon fibre with mini turbines like those used in radio control hobby planes with simple sensors and cpu, achieving low vis mainly by shape, made in the tens of thousands and launched by the hundreds at a time. They can be brought in by cars, vans, strapped on the backs of people on bicycles. even on foot. High tech expensive has its place, so does it's opposite.
This is likely to be a long and hard affair. And it’s by no means certain that basic simple equipment can’t be a match for all the sophisticated stuff. After all the Taliban pushed the allies out of Afghanistan. The west is at last taking its security seriously and seems to be actually working together.
@@SkywalkerWroc That's standard practice these days anyway - you just assume your enemy knows all your key installations and will take those out first - so you build loads of spoof ones and store your stuff in exactly none of them. Dispersion is the name of the game.
So, just to make things clear. Up to this point, Germany, as a member of NATO, had agreed to spend 2% of GDP on defence but spent less than 1.4%? And Russia, which has the largest nuclear arsenal in the world, has "security concerns?"
Putin should get "The best PR for joining the NATO of the year" award. Both Finns or Swedes, first time over 50 % support joining NATO. Putin's action turned me, a lifelong NATO skeptic, to "definite join" supporter in one night, or morning to be precise.
I like the position of the new German government to develop the future military systems here, in Europe. The Union shouldn’t be dependent on foreign sources for its security.
@@scratchy996 German industry like US, Japan, Britain and Korea is at the cutting edge of industrial development. I think before all of this finishes a lot of Westerners are going to die and a much larger number of Chinese and Russians.
@@bighands69 "at the cutting edge of industrial development. " - and they have to remain that way. Western politicians were bribed to let China buy high tech companies. This was huge mistake, the Chinese are now technologically as advances as the West, so the West must step up their High Tech game, and outlaw the sale of high tech know-how to the Chinese, Russians and other terrorist states. Like Stalin said, when the British leftists sold him Rolls Royce jet engines : " What fool gives away his secrets to his enemies? " The Soviets then promptly put those engines on their Mig-15 and used them to kill Americans in the Korean War.
@@scratchy996 China is nowhere near the advancement level of the west. It one thing to know how to do something and entirely different thing to be able to build it. China's jet fighters are trying to copy western designs but simply are not at that level. They are always playing catch up as they do not have their own creative culture. Clearly the west should not be enabling China to advance. I do not think it is corruption but more a case of westerns thinking that they can get China to go in the same direction as the west. But here is the thing China has not developed them self.
I have worked with German engineers and it's welcome news that Germany has decided to invest more in defense of NATO. Germany can contribute much to the strength of the free world if they develop new weapons to counter Chinese and Russian weapon platforms (don't mistake Russian performance in Ukraine with their engineering abilities). America, Germany and Japan make the most formidable military engineering on the planet and the free world could be assured of having the strongest in the world.
Most of the world has been fine with Germany since the 50s. At least the West with West Germany. In fact, immediately after WW2 Germany started to rearm
Could be. Some measures of cost such as flyaway cost have fallen for the F-35 to such levels as to undercut many "competitors." I must put quotes on "competitors" since the F-35 greatly outperforms them. EDIT: in contested airspace.
@@psikogeek Thanks for the replies. This is of interest to me as a Canadian. AS you may or may not know we are looking for a replacement for our CF-18 Hornets. The competition is between the F-35 and the Swedish Gripen E. I am not sure which variant of the F-35, BUt I would assume it would be the A model, though the C would also make sense because of the range the C has.
@@michaeldenesyk3195 As you may or may not know, the Canadian Air Force recommended the F-35 but politics intervened. Don't know which versions. Such is a debacle like the submarine scandal.
The reason Germany was so reluctant to spend the 2% is this would yield - I guess - the 3rd or 4th highest military budget in the world. About 2x the amount of Russia's budget.
Yeah, I think the goal of Germany was to fly under the radar. If you pose no threat, you won't be attacked first. As long as other deterrents are in place, they will be the first target. And obviously you can use the spare money to invest in other things, i.e. Nordstream 2 or BER... :D. It is kind of a dick move, which is why Nato members didn't like it that much (they need to fill the gap Germany created).
Although the Ukrainian army and the civil resistance are fighting impressively brave the outcome of the Russian invasion will probably be successful in the end. Needless to say: many more lives will be lost, what a tragedy. Strategically this will mean that NATO and the EU will have four new borders with an highly unstable country under Russian occupation - which IMHO will inevitably lead to tensions or even conflicts with its western neighbors. We can not leave our eastern partners (more or less) alone in that situation. IMHO this was one of the reasons why so much has changed in German politics within a couple of days.
@Kirk Wolfe in fairness, the US in the 19th century basically didn’t have foreign possessions or a real military. And honestly Europe as a separate allied pole of global hegemony probably works better than a unipolar American dominated system. Especially given our habit of electing the absolutely most idiotic people.
@@UnsolicitedContext are you talking about the USA or EU leaders? Both have very stupid leaders for the most part, I would say Biden is a bigger joke than Trump but there is a lot of competition for that crown, probably Bush jr is the real winner there.
I don't think Russia can hold all of Ukraine, I also don't think the EU and it's members are just going to do nothing, this is something they can't just ignore or solve by sending weapons, it will take time but right now I would not be suprised if before years end we have boots on the ground in Ukraine to force Russia to have proper peace talks, after all Putin wants to reach a political goal, prolonging the conflict is not good for anyone, surrender is not possible for Ukraine, so something is better than nothing.
The war will continue for years. Russia won't be able to govern the country. Guerrilla war will continue with lethal weapons like javelin missiles, drones and so on Supplied by NATO
@@peterlojewski7057 Depends entirely on what the campaign goals are. If, for instance, this was mostly a Mafia-style shakedown of Ukraine by Russia -- "It'd be a shame if we had to smash up even more of the country, so pay us the protection money", that sort of goal has a very different exit condition from one of pure conquest.
Very good point. Germany, as well as many other european partners, relied on SALIS, which chartered ukrainian transport planes. Maybe the old idea of a freight variant of the Airbus A380 will be realised. Some airlines decided to stop operating the A380, so some aircraft of this type may be available for conversion.
I don´t anyhting is going to happen in that regard, unless a heavy lift helicopter is now considered strategic airlift. The A400 should be enough for the aim of defending Germany and Europe. The strategic airlift feels like 2000s project, now that Germany wants to focus on Europe rather than adventures on the side of globe this project seems outdated.
Been relying on the US. The US may need it in the Pacific shortly. We have defense pacts with Taiwan, the Philippines, Japan and Australia. China isn't going away.
@@roadrunner6224 The defence of europe will shurely require less strategic arilift capability. But I am unsure, if germany will be able to abstain from any strategic airlift in the future.
Thank you for sharing these historical changes in Germany. I am looking forward seeing facts. In France, we are talking about "high intensity war", from last year. We have now, good equipments, but not enough in volume. It is not a drastic change, as in Gernamy. I hope these dramatic events, will push our two countries to move forward, with the different commun projects...
I am pleased to see this and pleased the SDP has come to its senses that a strong Germany is not a threat, but a shield to European security. Now get nuclear power plants and become energy independent.
I'm happy to see things changing in Germany, but devastated that it took untold loss of life to make it happen. Let's not mince words - appeasement and "it's not that bad" gave Putin the room he needed to invade Ukraine and think that the rest of the world would roll over and not throw a fuss.
@@fulcrum2951 wake up, look around ? use your brain and realize the huge propaganda campaign. You guys, like each and every Eu/nato country are nothing but a US vassal and just swallow the propaganda machine out of there on an infinite loop. Come on, I had such estime of the german people but now you are just a bunch of little servants.
Trump also was and odd one Putin didn't dare test..... but yeah let's stay on the hate train. Also, lots of people called Putin a great guy, including lots of German. Who also told America to leave and there was no need for their bases or military anymore .....
It is the mandatory trump bashing on youtube . And like always they take trump out of context. ,Just like the MSM told them to do . In the end they properly have to buy the f-35 from him
I think the most important issue for German security is still domestic energy supply. The nuclear power stations MUST be recommissioned to limit dependence on Russian gas. They can be turned off again once renewables are sufficient but right now it is necessary!
“Once renewables are sufficient” - which will basically be never. Let’s get those nuclear power plants back online - and arrest the fifth column agents among the “greens” who pushed us into so many bad energy decisions.
@@Hexadris it is very much used for electricity as well. Besides, if you have enough electricity, it is easy (and cheap) to switch to electric heating.
At the risk of causing pain for a German youtube channel but I've always admired Chamberlain - he opposed war and did his absolute best diplomatically to avoid it as well as fighting Churchill in parliament to try and avoid it but he knew that a strong military was necessary, funded and developed lots of things (Spitfire, Lancaster, KGVs) that meant that the equipmet and forces were in place when he failled (if you listen to the whole of his speach following the invasion of Poland it's hugely appologetic) and made sure Churchill had the military capability available to him.
Easy for us in hindsight with no experiences of horrific total war to judge but if we’d let the Czechs defend themselves they likely would still have lost isolated as they were but casualties would have been horrible for Germany.
Chamberlain also knew, as Daladier, that their armed forces were not prepared. From 1938 to 1939 both France and Britain increased their military spending greatly, like Germany (or Europe) is doing today. If Hitler had not invaded Poland, France and Britain would have reduced the military gap with Germany in subsequent years.
I remember the German Army from Cold War days and they were always excellent in military competitions, great with armour and very professional. Then years later I saw constant reports of poor budgets, bad morale, submarines never at sea, very old aircraft, etc, etc. Basically very poorly looked after thanks to politicians. This budget increase is a good thing for Germany as it is now politically leaning away from Russia. A fair bit of the shouting in the footage is very pre Putin German politicians trying to shout down Schultz with far more telling them to pipe down. The EU has imho unfairly leant on the French armed forces as they have kept at great expense an excellent military capability. If Germany is serious about rearming it shouldn’t replicate what France has but fill in the gaps France and their partners have. Strategic airlift is one. At least large cargo can be used in disaster relief.
Well said. Europe needs to be able to defend itself from America. Not because the US shouldn't help their allies, but because Europe might to be completely self sufficient.
Thank you for the video, and thank you to the German people for stepping up and confronting this crisis head-on! Things are getting really concerning with Putin's statements about his nuclear weapons, and Belarus just voted in a referendum that they can now have nuclear weapons in their country. Belarus president Lukashenko also said he was going to provide troops to fight in Ukraine (at least one Chechnya fighter has already been captured in Ukraine). Stay tuned, and I hope we all come out of this one alive!
Belarussian troops won't make much of a difference. Their training and equipment are at par with Russian conscripts if not worse. If anything, they will be of token value, merely a show of demonstration of Lukashenko's loyalty to Putin. The Chechens are even worse in quality.
I just get ancient Soviet vibe every time I see the Belarusan president and ministers in a room on TV now. But excepting the war potential it feels like seeng the Chaplin The Great Dictator film. Grim times.
Along with Japan, Germany has been a model citizen since WW2 and their leadership and wisdom in world events is welcomed. It is time the big democracies made a stand against these Dictators. Thank you for your interesting analysis and commentary on current events, Chris.
I'm sharing this. Thank you for laying the basic law/process for Germany procurement etc. Many of us in the States are bitching and moaning about NATO spending/Germany and or lack there of. But also they dont understand German culture of "This is who we are as a people, our hopes, dreams and desires" Now it's shattered by world events.
Also Americans aren’t taking responsibility for the USA’s role in changing the German people into thinking this way after WW2. The USA wanted Germany (and Japan) to become ultra pacifist. And then quickly regretted it soon after the Cold War started.
@@timonsolus Obviously it wasn't just America's interest that Germany and Japan were pacified in the manner that they were, but the difference now is that there is a broad swath of Americans (maybe not majority, but certainly a plurality) that feel nowadays that it is time for these countries to step up in defense, even if it requires some treaty adjustment (such as Japan). Much of this has to do with the growing exasperations with countries that rely on our military presence to maintain some aspect of order while frequently complain about it as well.
@@leonardwei3914 The US hardly maintains "order". Its more accurate to say they maintain the interests of their allies, as long as those interests align with their own. Almost every single war within the last 50 years I can think of was the result of US meddling where they should not have.
@@lobsterbark I feel you are trying to be a contrarian just for the sake of being one. Maintaining the interests of allies with our own using the Anglo-American network of influence worldwide is a sense of order, regardless if you feel it is appropriate or not. But we can disagree with what constitutes "meddling" and "should not have" because I can point to a few wars and conflicts in the past 100 years we were drawn into that were not primarily of our own interest.
11:00 Leo 2A7 chassis + Leclerc turret was called EMBT. A demonstrator showcased at 2018 Eurosatory. It was just intended to demonstrate that the previously independent companies KMW and Nexter could cooperate and jointly develop a next generation tank. Its not MGCS nor its representation. Although full-scale development of the EMBT could be ventured if export customers are found/interested.
I am very glad that Germany is stepping up. It was missing in the European Union, as now we lean to much on the NATO. However I would like a wine now.. don't know why
When I understand your comment right, I totally agree on your statements. I am also glad that Germany is stepping up and let loose the old dogma. Germany is the most important country within the European Union and I think it's important they are taking the lead in our defence. Because of the lay back culture of Germany and the Brexit (the leaving of the UK) we lean on NATO and therefor of the USA. In my opinion the USA isn't the reliable partner as they always were. There politics is more and more looking inside instead of outside their own country. Of course it's their own right to act so, but for Europe it means that it's important to unit and to work togehter intensively on the area of defense. Proost!
@@adrian.banninksy Well to be fair to Americans, they always came through when needed. But it is vital for Europe in this tense Geopolitical times that we do have a standalone capacity just in case. Specifically in the times of politics that polarizing in the US we need to be able to set out our own line in things
I love how Germany was like "ugh, dear care workers and nurses, we actually can't pay you any more or give you any bonuses" during the pandemic but they now are like "psych, here's 100 billion for guns lol".
From a French point of view, this announcements are an other proof that Germany is one of the most unreliable industrial partner for military hardware. After refusing to invest in cooperation programs with other countries, them came to ask France if they wanted to create the FCAS program, to build a new plane and systems with Dassault Aviation. But refused to give the lead of the project to the French. Even though the latest DA plane was the Rafale, and the French defense industry has every industry and capabilities to develop new planes and armament. The German funding on the FCAS and the MGCS is conditioned to Bundestag acceptation every 6 months, for a several years planned project. It's a situation that present a threat to cut funding at any point, whereas the French side has already agreed to spend its part for several years, no conditions linked to it. What is even more infuriating is that the French side has the knowledge, the engineers and the vision required to develop effective new planes, and already worked on Stealth airframe (Like the Neuron drone, that German cut the funding early because they did not see the interest in that program...). The last plane German developed completely on its own may be the Me262, all the more well known German plane were either cooperations or bought straight-up from the shelf. By announcing they will buy the F-35 (again, buying US instead of working on developing their own industrial capabilities and learning from the process. (if you never try, you will never fail) The signal here from the other side of the Rhein is that they don't care about the FCAS, because they will have their F-35. So no need to invest in a new plane if you have the latest US toy. They also show us that they don't mind not being compatible with other materials (as the F-35 is not yet NATO compatible, but it's okay because most of NATO is already equipped with F-35 fleet. So who cares, except the few ones that still think that being sovereign in their defense is important. Instead of having the F-35 NATO compatible, it's NATO who is becoming F-35 compatible. This renders every future EU market for plane biaised, as the new standard will not be chose by the EU but rather imposed by the USA : it will need to be F-35 compatible, for a "smooth transition", and look, we have a brand new plane to sell you...) So, yeah, it's a good thing that Germany is finally waking up about its lack of defense capabilities, but the action will speak louder than the words (even though, the speech from the Chancelor is a welcome change in international relationship and defense policy) I'm not sure Germany will not fall in its old habits again soon after the crisis has passed.
1. If we share the costs, there is no way why we would accept any technical black boxes. Germans are very reluctant to be used as financiers for French ambitions without complete ownership. 2. We will work to produce FCAS - after all, we want German jobs to continue. But we won't accept all the hogging; and I doubt that France could stem all research and development costs necessary to make a 6th gen fighter. 3. Actually F-35 will be a new NATO standard soon. Just by sheer amount of purchase. Times change and when equipment changes in a majority, adapt. 4. Interoperability will be important. And since the EU is not a big military player and most nations see their defence with NATO and not the EU, this is totally understandable.
@@Sedna063 1. No problem with sharing the cost and more importantly the knowledge. But right now you're not doing either. You challenge the technical leadership and refuse to allow 100% of the funding. So you bring nothing certain in this program but you ask us to trust you blindly. We can even doubt your engineers could develop a new plane on their own, given the few German build planes in the past decades (not a century, yet, but we are coming close to it) 2. Of course you will want to build it, at least half of it, as we do. It's understandable and reasonable. As long as you share 50% of the cost, you should get 50% of the benefices, export included (even if Germany tend to block export in coopération project, but don't mind selling artillery truck to Turkey when they were bombing Syria ;) too bad the Mercedes-Benzlogo is so easy to spot and recognise) And if you doubt we can finance it and develop the technology on our own, watch us ;) The Rafale is being more exported outside of France than the Typhoon has been bought by its co-builder together. And its credible in its role and far from ridicule against 5th gen fighter on exercices and military operations (f-35, F-22 and the like) 3. No, the F-35 will not be NATO standard, because NATO is more than just air forces and the European clients of the USA. You want to sell your defense to the USA, it's your problem, but you can't outcast the few countries that still care deeply about their defense. You have given the keys to your castle to a foreigner, but don't expect everyone else to do the same. (We'd rather stay right alone than wrong with the crowd) 4. Interoperability is important, we agree on this one. And it's fine inside of NATO instead of the EU because their wasn't a need for EU defense at the time. But their is a difference between having a defense force NATO compatible, and depending on NATO for its own defense. France, Sweden, Switzerland and many others have chosen the first category to be in. Which one did your country chose ?
@@Sedna063 The french always see theirself as a serious alternative to the real superpowers. Well, I dont care. We are sharing our borders with both of you but are too small to be part of these games - and we are also gping to buy the F35. Greetings from your south (to Germany resp. de l est to France).
@@dreaminknight We don't??? We just have the 3rd military industrial fully autonomous complex in the world. But is it Europe or an American proxy we're trying to build here?????? The plan of the EU was to build off each other strengths. European countries let their industry die for the very powerful german car industry and they're doing a spectacular job. Though it has been killing every other car industries in the south of Europe. But these countries didn't mind and helped their german counterpart. Germany has only been defending its own interests, instead of a europe of nations, we have a europe lobby for the german industry. What's the point? It was needed to build off each other strengths, not being so sore about buying one of your rival products. France has no issues buying others' products, even to the point of damageing their own. They have the capacity to build nuclear weapons, nuclear powered subs, nuclear missiles, planes, tanks, everything. From start to finish, from the first piece to the last with full control of the buyer country's sovereignty.
Great video as always however you getting excited had got us excited as well. As a fan of your previous drone videos this one had it's spirits high (sadly for obvious reasons) but still stood highly informative as always. I admire your formatting and dedication and realising it's kinda sad that no other nationals does these kinds of videos like you do about their countries (if i wasn't swamped with two jobs atm i would immediately start doing it for Turkey). Love your work, love that sass, keep it up and stay safe
Great announcement. Nice change of perspective from you guys, and I'm saying that as a Frenchman desperate to accomplish Bismarck's old say: Let the French be a maritime power, let the Germans be a continental power. We could achieve a lot if we can tune one to another. Our vision vision as French is that we are better off building our own "umbrella" because no ally is going to provide better guarantee than the one living on the same part of the continent than us. Time For Germany to step up. The lead is there for you to claim. Time for you to truly become a continental power in Europe. We were there assuming that role. We'll still be there, only too happy someone will, too.
Indeed, joint leadership by France and Germany is sorely needed for the future, especially as the UK has left the EU. However, Poland is also proving to be a dependable and responsible ally in helping Ukraine against Russia, so perhaps it's time for the EU to reconsider their position towards them...
On a toujours été une puissance mix maritime et terrestre la puissance réellement maritime c'est les britannique. Et c'est logique eux sont une ile nous on est lié au continent mais avec un large espace maritime.
@@GonzoTehGreat You seem to have somehow confused the EU with NATO, of which the UK remains a founding and key member esp. with its two aircraft carrier strike groups. Britain has never shirked its shared defence commitment to its allies and neighbours. Dismissive and patronising comments like this, plus numerous other petty post-Brexit micro-aggressions are the reason the British public opted out of the federalist European experiment in the first . Just be grateful we’ll remain by your side when the sh*t really hits the fan! Thanks 🙏🏿 🇬🇧
Trump said this wouldn't have happened if he were reelected - he is correct. Putin could have just sat around waiting for Trump to destroy NATO (maybe by declaring war on Denmark or something) after which Russian domination of Ukraine would be inevitable.
Doubtful. Trump is Putin's buddy so I'm pretty sure he'll just allow the Russians to walk right into Ukraine. Trump's a failure, dude. Time to move on. He's made the US into a laughing stock during his 4 years and even contributed to the worsening of climate change.
Two corrections: 1.) It is not a requirement for NATO member states to spend 2% on defense. It was a goal formulated in a memorandum, supposed to be reached in the year 2024. So although I'm not a Donald Trump hater, he was wrong when he claimed Germany would be behind on any NATO payments, or anything of the sort. 2.) The MGCS will not be a chimera cobbled together from Leopard and Leclerc parts. They just made such a thing as a technology demonstrator and a marketing gizmo. The new tank will be a totally new thing, not directly based on the Leopard or the Leclerc. And how was the Northstream 2 Pipeline a bad idea? Are you aware that the liquid gas that is delivered by ship is way more expensive and that gas Germany had paid for was "mysteriously disappearing" when using the old pipelines through Belarus and Poland? Installing a new pipeline that would end those problems was a good idea. That the geopolitical situation has changed doesn't retroactively change that.
Furthermore, everyone has to keep in mind. One day Putin will be gone for good and the first thing the new Russian "government" will do is to travel to Germany and ask for financial assistance, like Yelsin did in 1998.
@@EK-gr9gd Why "government"? Even if a government is a dictatorship or a puppet regime, it's still the government. The only case of a government in quotes is when an insurgency holds a small part of a nation, making it unclear if they are actually the legal government. But as soon as there is only one governing body that rules, it's the government.
I was in the German Bundeswehr for 8 years, end 1980's to early 1990's. Already back then we constantly got told there is no money for this, there is no budget for that. The first thing they have to do is to get every branch back on defense status and that will take quite some time, especially now that there are shortages everywhere. Only.... and only when they are at this status, then they can talk about upgrading. So don't get excited to early. Germany never was thought as an attack rather than only a defense Military...... The stingers and the Panzerfaust included equipment and ammo is probably all they had that was still working. I am pretty sure everything supply support (nachschub) related is almost down. Air force is in horrible condition and probably Army too. My unit went shooting twice a year. 5 shots pistol, 10 shots rifle.... that's it. Maybe there are certain units that are almost fully equipped but I highly doubt it.
We tended to balance training ammo, bookings of ranges and training areas to those deploying so we too had quieter times. We’d have so many guys to catch up on courses, promotions, postings and leave you got used to the cycle.
When I did my military service and shooting training I asked them "how am I supposed to meet the requirements to finish my shooting exams, if there is not enough ammo to train with in the first place?" and that I asked even before I fired my first shot. The answer was rather simple "Welcome to the Bundeswehr. Pray." When my comrades and me got a tour on our Airforce Base... our officer's pointed out the equipment which was functional rather than the broken stuff. It was quickly done. And all of this by them saying "our goal is defense, not offense so we stretch and scrap a lot. It may change one day, but until then... we hope we'll make it." Until that day I was considering spending more time in the Bundeswehr. But at that moment I chose not to. I still have a high respect on those men and women who actually spend years or even their entire working career in the Bundeswehr and I do hope that at least those who are in conflict zones, have some decent equipment.
Nothing motivates more then hearing the wolf's howl getting close to your door. Let us see what really happens in the coming months, who has the willingness to make this promise happen.
Fear is the ultimate motivator. Smart move to make this announcement now to the German citizens and to get voted on. If Russia didn't start acting like Russia again the majority in that public poll would be against more military spending. Just be careful Germany, don't make the same mistakes we did after 9/11. Politicians used are fears and anger against us to get borderline unconstitutional bills passed.
The US had to enact its post 9/11 strategy to send out a message those that might attack the US. The went after Afghanistan because that is where the training camps where and they attacked Iraq because it was a target to send out a message to the middle east and Asia greater.
Germany would have needed the investments in military anyways. There was too little spending in the further development of the Typhoon (one reason why it lost all export competitions the last years), and the Tornado fleet is too old and obsolete today and expensive in maintenance.
"Take that Americans your not going to beat us on Acronyms" As an American i found myself folding my arms and saying "Ha! we're just dumb enough to take that challenge." In all seriousness great video, subscribed.
Only thing I'll say is I've seldom seen you so caught off guard and excited. German foreign politics look like they've been blown into tiny pieces, how much actually sticks will be interesting to see. Really seems like the invasion shook the country to its core.
'Shaken to the core' is accurate, maybe even an understatement. The 2014 Minsk Agreements now look, even to many casual observers, an awful lot like the 1938 Munich Agreement. People are shocked, many are afraid. Politicians in the EU - for who it is now practically mandatory to at least appear to have learnt the lesson - have effectively abandoned the idea that economic reprisals and diplomacy alone can still change the course. The specter of 1939 looms large over the invasion.
The most interesting thing, to me, is the proposal to amend Germany's Basic Law. If that goes through before the current shock wears off, that could be... really remarkable.
do not underestimate the Eurofighter. It's still one of the worlds most capable fighting aircrafts. However the Tornado needs to be replaced. The F-35 would still be a good replacement as it's capable to carry nuclear warheads unlike the Eurofighter typhoon
I am no expert, so please correct me if im wrong, but isn't the max speed of the Eurofighter almost double of the F-35? Wouldn't it make sense to have a capable Interceptor? Also I think the Payload is much higher with the EF.
@@mr.t993 The F-35 has very much lesser RCS (0.005m2), than a new 4.5 gen aircraft (1m2) that equates to 6 times its detection range. F-22 (0.0001 m2) kill ratio 221-0 4th gen aircraft cannot compensate for the enormous difference in detection range from a stealth 5th gen aircraft which is the primary factor in those insane kill ratios, plus their overwhelmingly situational awareness. The F-35’s fundamental design is so far advanced in terms of both Stealth and Situational Awareness - two key aspects of a 5th gen. aircraft. That it is a not even debatable. F-35 can kill SAMs and aircraft even before they see them coming. We see this time and again in Red Flags and Northern Edge with F-35 having 28-1 kill ratio against modern 4th gen aircraft even when backed by AWACS and SAMs. Europe now have their 6th gen stealth fighter programs, trying to leapfrog the 5th gen, but that would take decades and billions even before the first aircraft go into testing. War is about domination and the technology that we have now allows us to get the most advantage against our enemies.
@@joekey8464 I haven’t found any source accept a channel that digs deep on military hardware, but according to him the Swedish Saab 39 Gripen E put up a real challenge to the F-22 with its jamming capabilities and scored second best (after the F-22) in red flag games fighting against the all mighty F-22 (source: Millennium 7 * Historytech)
2 percent of German GDP is a hell of a lot of new equipment and funding, especially for a nation with no nuclear weapons platform or program of its own. Those always take up enormous funds, so without that Germany would have the money to throw at loads of new conventional hardware; tanks, subs, planes, drones. You name it.
Today 190000+30000 reserve, 350 Leopard 2 A7 ( + 400 older Leopard 2 A4 in storage),180 Eurofighter . 1980s 550000+500000 reserve, 5000 Leopard 1 and Leopard 2, 1000 Fighter Jets . We can build a big army again if we need .And we have the money and the industrie .
@@kriegshammer2161 and the 1980s figure was just for the then smaller (West) Germany. Didn't realise there were 5000 tanks though, thats Soviet-like quantities.
*Correction* 02:55 - This is wrong. The 100 bn fund is extra. Apologies for the confusion.
*Edit* Translation at 12:06 (missed it in the edit)
'It is also good that the contracts for the "Eurodrone" were finally signed this week.' 'We are also pressing ahead with the acquisition of the armed Heron drone from Israel.'
*Update* This video by MHV is a great breakdown at the socio-political background of German military spending. Check it out, was great to assit in making it: ruclips.net/video/mDUElJY4xNQ/видео.html
The F-35 is a bad plane for everything if anything Germany should get Rafales it's the only capable plane in all types of missions and considered to be the best jet in the world, we know this since the leak of classified evaluation documents of the Netherlands showing the Rafale superior to all it's competitors and above the F-35. In these times it's important that EU have functioning military capabilities.
@@ommsterlitz1805 None of that is even remotely true. More books less Twitter.
@@ommsterlitz1805 the F35 took longer than it should have but it's hear now and it's pretty damn close to all singing and all dancing. The F35 is simply the best value for money on the market. You can pay less and get less or pay more and get less
@@ommsterlitz1805 First things first, where are these "Classified Documents"? And second, why would the Dutch bring Rafale into the equation for being better than the F-35? Too many armchair experts that have a bias or just like being a contra.
@@seanmac1793 The F-35 is insanely more costly than any other jet because of cost of maintenance wtf are you talking about it's one of the downside of the F-35 and you bring it as positive. I swear americans are so....
“Take that America!” 😂 Anyone who has studied German knows that the preference for compound nouns means that Germany’s potential for acronym supremacy is always REAL! Great video!
So you are saying the forth Reich has risen ? 🤔
Good one! Haha!
@@earth7551 well.. one upstart for the tittle has to be down in the east first.
You will never match up to Americas ability to put words in the wrong order for all our military hardware.
Maybe not so much the Fourth Reich, but since the EU can be thought of as the HRE version 2.0... it's more so the First Reich v2
As an American and a veteran, I am happy to see Germany get back into the defense of Europe. It has way to many talented engineers and soldiers to stay on the sidelines. Welcome back, boys.
Generations here have been raised with another mindset after the dark days of world war 2, you couldn't really invest into the military here without loosing a ton of votes and people speaking up against it. The reality is that now the population is waking up to the idea that you need a solid military presence to be taken seriously when it comes to defense and being a part of NATO.
I am afraid it's one of those moments where something had to go horribly wrong again for people to rethink, this is why we are years behind...
Anyways without getting to much into US politics here I am glad that NATO reacted the way they did to this invasion who knows what somebody like Trump would have done. As far as I know Biden has a lot of experience in choosing words wisely from the cold war era even!
@@warlordwossman5722 It's really - as you said - partially a result of how we (as a nation) coped with WW2.
There is little patriotism, any military action (Kosovo, Afghanistan, etc) is something "we" as a nation aren't proud of (and I'm not either necessarily). Our soldiers aren't necessarily respected, and not even the people in power respect them. Compare vdL's "opinion" towards _her_ military when she was defense minister with AKK's to know what I mean.
Add that to decades of peace and prosperity and you get an environment in which the military... will have to collect the pieces of rusting equipment and see if it can ductape something together.
they were working don't worry dude .... Germany sell tank to argentina guns to french and so on
@@dlr9456 that's....really not much
Did u know that Germany can't efford using American strategic bombs with nukleare warheads as usa didn't want to give the Eurofighter the green light? Germany asked over years to get the Typhoon into this option. But usa every time saying no. The f35, F18 having this ability so they guessing to buy th f35 for tornado replacement
I remember when I was in Germany and we did joint live fire ranges with the German army. They often didn't have enough ammunition to complete their qualifications so they'd request from us. They knew of our fascination with the G36 rifles so they'd let us shoot them to our hearts content. So a weird system sort of developed out of that. German Army were good guys, just poorly funded and equipped. I'm glad to see that coming to an end.
That's just sad honestly. You'd think at the very least they'd have enough for training
Most armed forcers are great guys, Its the pricks in charge that ruin the shit.
yeah german army was mismanaged for years by clueless clowns. the only 3 headlines it made in recent years were "drone eurohawk costed billions and is unusable" "g36 rifles don't work if you autofire in a hot desert. whoever ordered them didn't specify, that they are about to be used in extreme environment" and "german bundeswehr finally has uniforms for pregnant soldiers".
Germany was not allowed to be strong again. That has changed
@@TrakThora There's really no proof for that claim. As Chris said, American presidents as well as other countries in NATO for the past couple of decades have asked Germany to increase their defense spending which they didn't until now.
I thought Scholz’s speech was fantastic. Merz’s as well.
Germany has a past, but that past should no longer dictate her future, or the future of NATO. And the fact is, Germany is by far the biggest economy in Europe; we NEED you to be a full partner.
This isn’t about selling you LNG, or the F-35. I couldn’t care less about that. It’s about Germany standing up for the values that unite us, and helping to deter the Putin’s, Xi’s, and Lukashenko’s from repeating what’s happening right now in Ukraine.
Both German and Japan have pasts but we are living in the real world today were the luxury of hindsight and guilt is not an option.
German, France and UK could easily control the air space in a major invasion by Russia. That is why we are about to see the largest airforce power in Europe forming since WW2. Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium and Polish air forces are going to be fully activated.
That is far larger than anything Russia has.
Indeed, but we should tell it that way: Germany should finally stop hiding behind that history. To please everyone is the best way to fail.
@@cvdheyden It's a mix of hiding and being the dead horse that is being repeatedly beaten.
@@cvdheyden nobody is hiding behind anything here. If you know our history you would understand.
@@bavariancarenthusiast2722 Of course, and I was living a very long time in Germany. Germany is hiding behind their history, because the politicians want to please everybody. This is why Germany is about to fail. Look at the defense minister. You like her?
As an American I'm always happy to hear our allies say they are going to take on more of their own national defense. And if you look at the success Ukraine has had defending themselves against Russia, it's obvious that the top European countries can obviously defend themselves to a large part. Especially as a coalition.
YUP! This needed to happen 15 years ago and Russia NEVER would have done what they did if the EU acted in the same way as NATO does. Then Turkey could be booted out since its interests seem to counter most countries in NATO, especially in the Middle East where the best thing for peace would be to separate Iraq up into the Kurds and other Iraq citizens, but it seems clear there needs to be a Sunni Iraq that's separate from the Shiite Iraq, and Turkey gets in the way of that happening. If the EU, UK and US were firm about it there's nothing Turkey could do.
@@johndoh5182 but having Turkey and other authoritarian European countries in NATO seems smart, to me, right now, because Putin would certainly love to cozy up with those, but cannot, now.
@@johndoh5182 I really think we, the west, need to take a big step back from the middle east now that we're out. Our actions there have tarnished our global reputation to the point where even China can now legitimately claim to be more respectful of national sovereignty than the west, that's a pretty sad state of affairs. In order to restore our reputation we have to stop meddling in regions which we clearly do not understand attempting to achieve overly ambitious and poorly specified goals and instead focus on defence.
@@peka2478 there is that...
@@peka2478 turkey is not an european country though.
I an US Army vet, and I like to expand my rather American point of view by listening to others from India to France or England. I have watched a few of your videos before, and especially enjoyed this one. I feel like you try to give several German points of view, and it's refreshing to have an educated perspective that is niether American nor eager to blame the US for everything.
When you say England don’t you mean Great Britain
@@ianmuir6784 hello, Ian. I actually meant England, thanks, but that might carry some of the arrogance of me saying "American
... sorry, long day, just checking through E-mail and caught your comment. I say "American" when I mean United States--ian because it is easier even though it smacks of arrogance, and having been to England, Wales, and Scotland, I don't automatically assume the same foreign policy interests or economic interests with the three. Still, I get your point that we will use "England" as a 'toss off' for Great Britain. Brexit angst and consequences has made, for me, the British Isles more interesting. ( And a British wife might kick me in the shin )
From saturday 2pm to sunday 2pm must have been the caziest 24h in german foreign politics in the last 30 years.
Actually sureal. No joke.
@@PetervonderHorst let's go handle this.
The entire point of NATO has been to keep the American's in, Russians out, and Germans down
@@MrCaskwine Its not, just stop with that BS.
@@Ginkoman2 ‘Keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down.’ is a quote from NATO’s first Secretary General, Lord Ismay.
I did my military service in the Bundeswehr in the late 80s. It was when they noticed that it was quite odd for an army that was basically sitting there waiting for things to happen to have so many incidents where people would be injured by frostbite. My unit was among the first to receive the new improved winter clothing and it was utter crap. Expensive crap though. My expectations are low if they just get more money to burn.
I think the business is corrupt in nature and only a strong willed leadership from politicians and military higher ups can do anything about it. Basically you need people who are in it for the task at had (make military better) and not their careers.
Needless to say most higher ups in most systems are in it for themselves and their careers.
Anyways, I think our chances to get something decent out of it are better then the russian's with crony cleptocracy and an oppressive leader.
Wow, one would think after experiencing the Russian winter without cold weather gear in WW2 Germany would never, ever again overlook warm clothes for its soldiers. .
@@donberry7657 corruption everywhere ,it's not like in Russian where generals and statesmen grab the money for themselves but when u spend the money right u get a new mension in Bolivia.
@@donberry7657 I know, right?
It's tough to beat the $ that get spent in the States for overpriced and underwhelming. Our new carriers are running 13 billion a pop and they're still working out the bugs. And I just read the Army is getting new all terrain squad vehicles that soldiers hate. The military says their made of 90% off the shelf GM parts, yet they cost $330,000 each! Explain that to me...I don't mind my taxes going to our guys in uniform but what the Hell
Is wrong with just building Jeeps?
From an Australian Chris to a German Chris, thank you so much for breaking this down in English language, I've been trying to decipher what this all means from various news websites but your breakdown of it all here is by far the best and most comprehensive I've seen! Thank you so much for this! (and all your other excellent videos of course)
G'day,
From another Australian Chris to the pair of you - German AND Australian, both of you are invited to backtrack me to my Videos.
Three weeks back,
"Putin's Pressing Problem..., Global Warming ; General Winter Has Switched Sides !"
and on day 2 or 3 of the Invasions of Ukraine,
"How Many Carpets Will Putin Eat...; Winning At War ?"
My next Video, currently brewing, is tentatively titled,
"Expel Russia From The UN Security Council...?"
Based on the points that the Veto Powers of the UN Security Council were established for the British Commonwealth, the United States of AmeriKa, and the United Soviet Socialist Republics.
The USSR died, in 1990.
PoohTin is somehow STILL excercising the Veto Power which was granted to Stalin's USSR ; and PoohTin is not Stalin, while Russia is not the USSR.
Therefore, expel Russia from the Security Council for not being the USSR, then pass a UN Resolution to establish a No Invasion Zone where Ukraine is, and have the UN invite NATO to Airstrike ALL Russian Units which are failing to retreat towards their Russian, Belarussian, & Crimean Border Start Lines
If Russia attempts to fight the entire UN..., then Nuke Moscow YESTERDAY.
Perfectly LAWFUL under ALL the International Laws of Waaauugh(!).
Just(ifiably ?) sayin',
Have a good one...
Stay safe.
;-p
Ciao !
@@WarblesOnALot
And where do you think Russia's nukes will then hit the 'UN' / Nato countries?
@@Wuppie62
G'day,
All the same places where they're already targeted.
What's your problem with a bunch of EuroPeons decorating each other's Skyscapes with Cloudy Mushrooms ?
Last time I tasted Fallout on the morning Porridge was 1963, when QE-II was pleased to command her Britannic Majesty's Royal Air Farce to conduct a Missile Warhead Fratricide Test upwind of me (Maralinga, SA, versus Northern NSW), by deliberately desynchronising the conventional Explosives surrounding a Plutonium Walnut - to achieve a "Fizzle-Yield" ; which blew most of the Pu. to Dust and Powder, and scattered it into the Atmosphere.
The Northern Hemisphereans ALWAYS assured us in Oz and the Kiwis and New Caledonians that it was "Perfectly Safe" when they were testing Nukes for NATO and the Frog-Eater's Farce De Frappe in the Southern Hemisphere...
Surely, Sauce for the Goose is Sauce for the Gander ; so ALL your expensively-handcrafted NukeYOUlater Waauugh(!)heads surely must be EQUALLY Safe going FlashPopBOOOM ! upwind of the people whose Taxes bought and paid for all those shinyShinySHINY Bright high-tech Death Machines.
Quod Erat Demonstrandum,
Olde Bean...
"Rule, Britannia !"
As they say,
What ?...
(Look up "Sardonicism"...).
Such is life,
Have a good one...
Stay safe.
;-p
Ciao !
14 years. So RUclips was 3 years old when someone registered the screen name "chris", one of the most common names in the western world. Assuming we can't register duplicates without some Unicode character tricks, be well chris, first Chris, just plain old chris of RUclips.
@@WarblesOnALot by name and nature. There's absolutely nothing valuable in your post whatsoever.
Never has Europe ever been so happy to see Germany re-arming itself before! Well done, Herr Scholz!
It's really hilarious, that this was like one of the best news of the week in Poland, of all countries.
Looks like finally we might be getting to the point where the EU, all of us, can defend ourselves without US support.
@@SkywalkerWroc Haha that's an interesting point, times have changed I guess. I hope Italy and France (as well as Spain and Poland to a lesser degree) follow suit, although they have less "catching up" to do compared to Germany.
@@lucadipaolo1997Macron announced last night an increase in the army budget and it is also on the program of the other candidates. But as you said the state of the French army and the German army has nothing to do, we produce our own weapons (of very high quality) we already have projection power and we have the experience of many conflicts (look at our deployment in Mali). We are also a nuclear power (the 4th or 3rd depending on the ranking or is above or below China) We are the first army in Europe slightly ahead of the British
After Macron announced yesterday invited the 27 to Versailles to discuss the creation of a Europe of defense
@@cheveuxjaunes2782 That's good to hear, well, now let's hope Italy does something as well, without the UK, in the EU the main 3 might need to beef up a bit more.
I hope something comes out of Macron's proposal, and having France is going to be key as you said, not only do you build some fine equipment (the Rafale is a masterpiece), and being a nuclear power is going to guarantee that the EU army is going to be a better deal for EU countries than NATO ever could.
@@lucadipaolo1997 taly is already gaining momentum on the maritime level for some years we have built our FREEM frigates in colaboration with them and the United States have taken over their disign. They are already the 7th maritime power in the world. They have embarked on a new type of destroyer, the DDX, but I find that there are good articles on it. They are also in collaboration with the British, Sweden and Japan on the Tempest, another 6th generation program than the FACS (it is interesting to note that all the participants in the program are mainly maritime forces).
In short, Italy has chosen to specialize. I think that if we create a European force it's a good thing to rely on the talents and specificities of each.
About the MGCS: It wont be a Leopard chassis with a LeClerk turret, that was just a demonstrator to show how nice France and Germany can work together. MGCS will be a completely new vehicle/vehicle family.
Yes. It was a show of impotence and decadence. Making useless weapons to please journalists.
In a real EU, there would be specialisation of states for different equipments to avoid useless paperwork.
Here, what we'll get is tons of weapons with US components, emergency purchace of US F35 to cripple the EU aeronautics industry.
Useless politicians who will promote US foreign legions. US leadership, US equipment, araboafrican soldiers (Europeans make no children) and European taxed.
Meanwhile, the US military will keep declining. It's essentially a paradise of racial quotas whose main politicy is LGBT inclusion training. Meanwhile, the US tech companies full of foreign workers don't want to collaborate on military projects because that's too patriotic.
That was to show that Nexter and KMW were able to work with inteligence together .... that was totally destroid by the forcing from rheinmetall in the bundestag I think.... this project is going nowhere since Rheinmetall enter the dance and totally shift the initial concept and 50-50 share between Nexter France and KMW Germany.
@@robin0ou0nours so basically it's just like every franco-german project. Always fighting about who gets the lead
@@Bvic3 Damn, this guy got fired from Rheinmetall after he dressed up in his KKK suit at work, you can tell.
@@Bvic3 ok russian bot, now go sleep
From the Dutch perspective I can only say that I'm delighted that Germany seems to take a leading role on the military plain in Europe.
The constitutional anti-militarism tradition has felt uneasy the last three decades. And Germany has inspired smaller countries like Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands, to neglect their armed forces in similar fashion while relying on 'soft power.' In fact, it was buying external security on the cheap and have others do the heavy lifting, while money not spended on defence landed in the pockets of vast industrial and commercial conglomerates (by having to pay less taxes), thus buying a profit for their shareholders and gaining nothing worth mentioning for ordinary citizens. The latter with very predictable results: increasing distrust, the rise of populism if not outright extremism.
I hope that this policy shift not only will strengthen the Bundeswehr considerably, I also hope it will lead to an renewed validation of what government and the balance between public and private sector. IWith the latter I refer to the so called Rheinland-model of social democracy, which in my view has too readily been relinquished for the anglo-saxon model (almost unrestricted capitalism). Market economy does many things right, but when it comes to the social aspect it's a monster with no allegiance to country, people or values. In Putin we see how far this leniency and reliance on trade as a powertool has taken us - trade has only bolstered his power and fellow cleptocrats, even when his regime was poised to our demise.
Either way, it's good to see that Germany steps out of its own shadow. I know of few nations that have built such a stable democracy or that value integrity more than the German people. It's time Germany exported that inner civilization alongside with Volkswagens. ;)
completely agree from DK
As a fellow Dutchie, I agree!
sorry to burst your bubble but no matter the amount of money Germany throws/squanders at the military, nothing good will come out of it. most of the money will just fill the pockets of arms dealers. the equipment it might buy will be overpriced and hopefully never get used anyway. besides, there are simply not enough young people willing to sign contracts to become professional soldiers since Germany doesnt enforce mandatory conscription anymore.
plus the €100bn extraordinary spending package for the military will be paid for by ordinary taxpayers only. the free democrats in government with their 'no new taxes and certainly not raising taxes for the already rich' mantra will make sure of that.
what is it with chancellors from the social democrats and filling the pockets of arms manufacturers? Helmut Schmidt risked his office for Pershing missiles, Schröder sent the Bundeswehr fighting outside NATO in Kosovo and now Scholz is ballooning the military budget out of any proportions. conservative chancellors avoid dirtying their hands that way. Scholz probably will pay for that at the polls
@@embreis2257 That's the exasct point I'm making when talking about re-embracing the Rheinland model of social democracy.
Defence industries (and other multinationals) have got to be kicked back into submission to state and people, instead of people stuffing their pockets for overprized systems that do not work properly half of the time. That will require quite a bit of statecraft and will prove to be quite a chellenge no doubt, but last time I checked Germany was a constitutional democracy (legally that is) and that provides leverage.
Second, I served as a conscript in the Dutch Army and hardly anyone wanted to serve. Nevertheless, the time that we could regard government as a jukebox that only played the tunes we paid for, is over as of now. Conscription (Wehrpflicht) is as good as inevitable. And to my mind, that's a good thing. I see millions of spoiled, bored young men (and women) who could do with a bit of discipline (and no, I don't mean blind obedience!) and obligatory fresh air, exercise and being stuffed in groups of people they'd normally wouldn't encounter in their lives. Also a great integration machine for the children of naturalized immigrants by the way. Back in the day we had all colours from all corners of the earth in my outfit (infantry) and we are brothers until this day.
Final point: having worked with both German arms/equipment and in close cooperation with German soldiers, I can only say that apart from readiness numbers they were top notch. You can leave that to Germans; they do everything meticulously - if given the chance. The German troops that were being deployed over the years did excellent work and stood out by their integrity, professionalism, flexibility and - which some people might surprise - their humanity.
If you're afraid that the billions being spent will not be used; let's hope that's not ncessary, at least not in anger. Other than that, if the increased numbers succeed in deterence, they will have been used properly. You may regard any Euro spent on defence as a waste; I've been witness to more than one war to know it isn't. At least not in the hands of soldier-civilians who elected their leaders and are held to defend their constitution and human rights. Despots the likes of Putin can only be stopped with force, not by sitting on one's hands or going to demonstrations.
There's certainly a lot in Germany that can be improved, mainly for the least well off in society. But to think that complaining and criticizing will bring change about, is the kind of attitude I'm done with, whether it is in Germany or in my own country. I haven't served to see it all squandered by self sattisfied decadents whose only contribution consists of crying wolf. We need to roll up our sleeves and help reshaping the future, our future, by reclaiming democracy and defending it most vigorously. The time for fashionable non allignment has passed. Period.
@@embreis2257 pretty accurate. The German Military is an infamous money burning machine, totally corrupt and led by incompetent grandmas for more than a decade now. Our military investment already is on par with that of Russia and while they maintain multiple wars and a gigantic army with nuclear capabilities, German Soldiers among other basic equipment lacked helmets when deployed to Afghanistan recently. Just throwing money at the Armed Forces will not lead to anything as organic growth is needed to get towards a somewhat less dysfunctional state.
Also Germany has among the worlds lowest will to fight and patriotism concerning general population sentiment, that will only increase with the largely non-German birth cohorts paired with liberal education.
As an outside observer, I always thought Germany with the end of the cold war and the reunification felt fairly safe in the protective shell of NATO and did not feel the need to increase their military spending. That coupled with the ever-present anti-minitariam sentiment present in German politics led them to not place as high a priority on their military. Unfortunately, this led them to not properly consider their own energy security needs becoming far too dependent on Russian energy exports. The invasion was an abrupt wake-up call for them. Hopefully, they learned their lesson.
Without some core forces that are up to snuff, that NATO shell can be very brittle.
@@davethompson3326
German has a large high technology air force but it was too scared to let people see that it had such a thing.
That has now all changed and will allow German to have their 250 cutting edge aircraft active.
France, Germany and UK can easily put several hundred fighter aircraft in the skies over Europe in such a war.
The French and UK navy forces combined is larger than Russia's. So France could hold the mediterranean and Britain can hold the Norwegian Sea and atlantic access.
Russia ace is their nuclear missiles but can they use them in the field without getting hit them self?
Comparably to what Germany faced during the cold war - keep in mind it was split in half between the blocks and if the cold war had become hot it would've been where most of the land and air fighting would've taken place - it could still feel fairly safe. But it's still a good thing to rediscover the need to protect it's way of life. Because many people might discover that what they have is worth protection and not taking everything for granted.
Well seeing them announcing they buy american equipment it feels like Germany now is ready to pay USA for that protective shell, more than it feels like a country that now want to invest in their own defense.
@@bighands69 You are right about European military forces, but please consider that UK leaved EU in big part because of Germany's political choice, and that that same sentiment is ever-growing in France also as well as in Italy and Spain. See that in this annonce, once again, Germany clearly state their primary partnership is with USA not with EU partners. Putting money into F35 program instead of in European FCAS program is a clear political statement of that. Now take all that into account and re-asses what you just said about European military forces and Germany. You must see something going wrong there.
Thanks for the video. I am very happy to see Germany getting back into a stronger defense position, especially as Germany is a leader in Europe. Also glad to see their quick decision to send armaments to Ukraine. Germany in many ways owes Ukraine from the tragedy in WW2. I would love to see Germany really embrace helping Ukrainians more and more, in a reconciliation manner. More love, more support from Germany.
Don't get too exited too quickly. The german Bundeswehr is specialized in burning billions of euros just in our bureaucratic systems.
The same is true for The Netherlands. In 2018 we were at 1.2% of the GDP. That has since increased to 1.5. But now that this has happened, practically all parties are in favor of increasing military spending. We will probably meet 2% as well.
But what I'm thinking is that, more than just throwing more money at it, we might want to reconsider European defence. At least in terms of acquisition programs. Even now we are already spending more than Russia and China combined (at least if you can believe the Chinese defence spending numbers). But it's really not efficient. For example, The Netherlands and Belgium are going to buy 2 new frigates each. So 4 in total. But if we were to build not 4 but perhaps 20 or more, for various nations, the cost per ship comes down, and standardisation across Europe goes up. Long-term, maybe it should actually be about more than acquisition programs though. The thing is, the USA is going to have to put its attention more and more on China, and less and less on Europe. We might have to fend for ourselves more than we have done in a long time. At least, that's what I think.
People have been talking about a "pivot to China" since 2008 but I have yet to see it actually happen. The US military is large and powerful enough such that the current US posture remains well-balanced for both European and Pacific theaters like it had been for decades.
What the EU really needs is standardization for all EU members and integration of national forces, that's really going to cut down the cost of gear and equipment and seriously increase the combat effectiveness of the EU if they have to fight side by side. Otherwise everyone is spending a lot of money for gear and when war comes they'll be basically fighting alone with unreliable and untrusted allies on the flanks.
The problem however is always local jobs and keeping the existing military industrial complex, just in case this union doesn't work out. If everyone buys the HK 416 that's basically rifles the French, Belgian, Romanian, Polish etc. factories arn't building. And if they arn't building rifles they can't pay their workers and if the workers arn't payed they move on and that kills the factory and loses the know how. And know how is something you really don't wanna lose because it's stupidly hard and expensive to get back.
that frigate is an unique first of it's kind drone frigate, nobody has it. So you have to start from scratch
@@musicmaster417 It just has 16 VLS cells though, in its current design concept. The LCF has 40, and that's already about 20 years old. I would say 32 is a minimum.
@@Palora01 Hmm, maybe we should one dictator in Europe that just decides what each country is going to do. I propose it will be me. ;)
This whole thing has been a long time coming, didn't believe I'd live to see the politicians start realizing the world isn't wrapped in cotton candy. I think that may be the only speech by a german politician I have ever watched in its entirety and around the middle I realized my mouth was literally hanging open. For 15 years I've been saying we need to get our heads out of our asses and here we are.
Thanks Putin :D
Trump was right, about time NATO started paying their own way. Speaking as a dual national US taxpayer.
So you are saying the forth Reich has risen ? 🤔
@earth The bois are back in town 😎
@@justiron2999 “I brought the MG4- I mean MG3s!!!”
@@justiron2999
Nice illusion but it will never happened
Love how the Japan Army is called "Self Defence Force", tells a lot about their sentiment regarding the past, can't imagine the German feeling on budget groth...
"Bundeswehr" means "federal defense", so about the same
👍👍🤣🤣
Actually, the German relations with its army are a bit different to Japan. Japan has homed a really big pacifist movement, which even wrote pacifism into its constitution and fought the Japanese-US military alliance post-WW2 on the streets. Germany was immediately divided and thrown into the cold war, with both the Bundeswehr and NVA largely continuing German military tradition. And nowadays the approval rating of the Bundeswehr is at an all-time high afaik.
Japan has finally broken with its 1945 treaty terms and is rapidly changing its military stance out of necessity with China’s belligerent behavior toward its neighbors and in the South China Sea with its unfounded determination to invade Taiwan. Taiwan is not only control over the world’s top chip maker and the realization of their imagined 9-dash line, controlling of the shipping route, but also a springboard for world dominance. China has held a deep grudge toward Japan for the atrocious actions of the Imperial Japanese government leading up to World War II. Japan most recently expressed a desire for the US to station a nuclear defense from Japan. So Japan has definitely changed their tune, quite widely I might add.
"Self defense force" is enforced by the US-made Japanese constitution. Japan doesn't teach WW2 history and their atrocities while also have always wanted to change their constitution.
Fusing the Leopard 2 chassis with the Leclerc turret was just a technology demonstrator that the two companies can work together (although it might get sold if there should be a customer), MGCS will be a new design.
I just looked it up and Jesus. The armor angles are impeccable!! So many projectiles gonna be bouncing if being driven by an actual experienced driver in angling
It's hard to imagine the top half cooperating for long with the bottom half of your hybrid before the bottom part wants to take over the top part.
@@abrahamdozer6273 lmao, we have a tendency to do that.
They should just modernize the panzers and panthers
As a German American who has seen both sides very clearly i have a few comments on the whole change in German Foreign Policie. The first is that I was shocked by this change. From my American view it appeared that germany had its head so far up its own ass that I didn't think it would actually be able to pull itself out of its dangerously complacent world views. This policy shift is neccessary. For far to long have the germans ignored the russian threat a few miles away. However, more then that the real reason why this makes me happy is because germany needs to start to see its army in a new light. They should absolutely keep the mistrust and distaste for millitary conflicts as it would mean the german army won't get involved in the stupid wars the US army is constantly fighting. Howevera strong army is also neccessary for the defense of a democratic nation and it is high time the German being to see there army less as a liabillity and more like a tool in the tool box to defend freedom. Overall these changes in policy took way to long to happen and if they actually go through will rob putin of any chance at an actual meaningful win in Ukraine.
if we rearm it would be a waste of money of we dont put the weapons to use.
As I See it. We will follow france and usa example and secure resources for our companies to keep the Bundeswehr busy.
off course all in the Name of peace keeping, Nation building, democracy defending, & c.
@@TremereTT Yep and theres the simple German response which has now led to you being caught with your pants down. An Army doesnt need to be used to be effective. The best army in the world would be one that is so terrifying it would never be used. Having a strong army is a requirement for Germany at this point. The USA is a fading hegemon and we won't be in europe forever. We can't defend all parts of the world like we used to and the America gaze is shifting to the pacific. This could make europe vulnerable to russian expansionism or chinese interference unless Germany has the millitary might that it make assertions like " Stop interfering in our politics" and have the opposing side take it with absolute seriousness. Also when it comes to armys intention is all. Germany is intent on never being the bad guy again and keeping out of wars. During the 1970s Germany was one of the strongest nato members and it never got into any war. Likewise Japan is one of the strongest nations the USA is allied. They have a well equipped and competent fighting force that has never seen any conflict since 1945. Why ? Because is expressely a defense force and is forbidden from fighitng. German has a Bundeswher. Not an army. That tells you every thing you need to know. The idea that a rearmed germany will suddenly become an interventionist power is bs. Because they already had been rearmed at a point and during that time they didn't send there troops abraod,.
Brilliantly stated!
From the perspective of a Scottish, English, Irish, Polish, Danish, British person I agree.
I was talking with my Irish, Dutch, Greek Canadian friend last Thursday and we all agreed that our French, Colombian, Spanish, Mexican friend had the right if it too.
German American.. wtf. Pick one you dozy b******
It would help if they weren't trying to replace their population with Africans and Middle Easteners.
As British guy who moved to America 20 years ago, I am also happy to see Germany get back in the game. Thanks for educating and transcribing what is going on over there, very educational.
The game, hu.
Congrats Germany…it’s been long enough now…excited for my German brothers and sisters to be able to fully defend themselves once more…love and respect from England 🇬🇧❤️
who knows maybe they will spend on maintance this time
Hope you two wont go building empires again looting, killing and enslaving millions of people and destroying lands all over the world.
It was long enough 40 or 50 years ago. :)
This is probably the first time in modern history where rearming germany is a good thing.
Jokes aside I'm glad that this crisis had at least some positive outcomes, it unified west (as a Czech, I always hated tha lot of our politicians were more pro russian and against west) and NATO finally does something that doesn't involve Middle east and its bit of a wake up call to everyone.
It really sucks that we needed this to finally work together. Now I just hope NATO accepts more state before its too late
The pro-Russian (and pro-China) politicians were likely on the take.
Yeah, it's surely an unexpected irony that, of all people, Putin turned out to be the one to unite the west. Probably not what he aimed for.
@al rode Not a great idea, the last time we got involved in Libya it didn't end well. We really need to quit with the force projection and throwing our weight around and just focus on defence. This is not only for practical reason but also for the sake of NATO's global reputation because right now China can honestly claim to have more respect for national sovereignty than the west, that's a sad state of affairs if ever there was one.
It's not a good idea.
@@ddandymann National sovereignty is not the be all, end all as dictators crushing protestors have attested to. More to the fact; it doesn't matter what the West does as the likes of Russia and China will just twist it to their advantage -like Russians and Chinese claiming the former's invasion of Ukraine is fine because of the "2014 coup".
“I fear all that we have done is awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.” -Sergei Lavrov, probably
Sweden has also come out with something similar the last few days. I think most European countries are panicking right now, besides France we have all been cutting far too much military spending the last 30 years.
I am not sure Putin really thought this through, instead of making Russia's position stronger he has in fact made it weaker.
And if he actually plan to revive the Soviet union then he plans to retake a lot more then just Ukraine, EU needs to be strong here. But we really need to get rid of our dependency of Russian natural gas. Germany's decision to get rid of nuclear power and import more gas was not a great one.
EU have an energy crisis (except for France) and we need to solve that. It might just be that we wont be able to buy fuel from Russia anymore so we need to solve that fast. It is as important as getting our military up to snuff (not as fun to talk about though).
Well Czech rep has 2 large nuclear plants which output we share with german powergrid anyway. Lot of coal plants are still serviceable if need be...
and Ukraine also has big reserves of natural gas, though most of the around Crimea and Donbass. Which might have been the real reason for the 2014 invasion.
@@SC0RCH3er I think the real reason is that Ukraine started to improve it's economy and that makes Russia seem inept since it's economy is a mess. 2014 was likely more of a test to see how much the rest of the world would care.
Sadly, the rest of the world didn't do enough back then which leads us to this situation.
2 nuclear power plants wont be enough to keep up the slack for all the German plants so we will sadly have to choose between coal and sucking up to the Russians, at least until other options can be made. And yeah, coal is the right decision as a temporary solution.
The idea to class natural as as eco friendly was a stupid idea anyways. EU needs a mix of solar, water, wind and nuclear power plants to provide our energy needs for the next 20 years at least.
Energy needs is likely to triple (uh, source: Elon Musk so it might be more or less) during that time and EU honestly needs to be able to provide that for themselves. Relying on import is a bad idea.
We Swedes are not doing great either, we have got rid of half our nuclear plants and while we do have some water and wind power that isn't enough. Politicians are currently fighting if we should get more nuclear reactors or less.
Seriously, I have no idea how we got into a situation like this from the start. It is bad enough to be relying on oil from outside the union but EU can never be a true powerhouse until we can produce our own energy without importing all the fuel for it.
It seems like France is the only nation who thought this through (at least the only really large).
@@loke6664 France did think strategically about energy when they decided to build their existing nuclear reactors back in the 1980s and they've reaped the benefits since, including energy independence, cheap electricity and last, but not least, relatively low CO2 emissions for the size of their economy.
However, even France has dithered in committing to building new reactors to replace the old ones, which are finally coming to the end of their lives.
Additionally, their over dependence on NP means they haven't invested enough in Renewables (especially compared to Germany) and are now having to play catch up.
I think Musk was probably referring to demand for Electricity (not Energy) increasing significantly, because of the transition from ICE to EVs. This is also one of the reasons why NP is needed along with Renewables, to meet future electricity needs without relying on Fossil Fuels.
@@loke6664 we got into that situation due to open and covert interference from a fifth column of Communists and “greens”, some of whom were on Moscow’s payroll, others just very useful idiots.
@N Fels You are right, particularly logistically this is incredible inept.
We can't really rely on that the next invasion will be handled as incompetently though, they might replace Putin's buddies with someone who is actually competent.
Russia impressed no one when Germany first attacked them during WW2 but they eventually got their shit together.
Assuming that an attacker would act stupid is not a great idea, if they do like in this case, great but it isn't something you should plan for.
Si vis pacem para bellum, still relevant today.
At least I'm happy that we're at a point in history where I, as a Pole, felt relief upon hearing the news of Germany's rearmament.
Of course I'd be much much happier if there was no reason to rearm...
слава україні 🇺🇦
Indeed, if you want peace, prepare for war. True words, in any generation & epoch.
Glad to see more nations getting their spending up to the NATO required 2% of GDP.
I’m glad to hear that Germany is seeming to shake off it’s appeasement doctrine concerning Russia. A strong German military can make a HUGE difference in world stability and counterbalancing autocratic tendencies……not just in Europe….but worldwide.
13:56 I can't help but hear a faint laughter from the crowd when he mentioned "in good time" regarding the replacement of the Tornados. Yes please do hurry before even their value as museum and/or collectable jets plummet further, ja?
haahhaaha
Right now is not the time to replace Tornados as Germany will need every aircraft they can get their hands on to get them in the air.
Russia has about 900 fighter jets and Europe needs to get everything they have in active status.
@@bighands69 Blowing up good German pilots by forcing them to fly outdated aircraft doesn't sound like a good idea either.
Honestly, I'm watching all of this in ecstasy. All of those arguments over whether or not defense equipment was still "relevant", all of those arguments for more reliance on "diplomacy" over military might, all of those arguments for a smaller, streamlined, EU military to replace NATO... all gone in the blink of an eye. Amazing what one single world event can do.
it's like deciding you're not going to lock your door because you haven't been robbed all year. And now that the neighbors are getting cleaned out, they're running out and buying security cameras...
@@derpkerblerp61 Isn’t this how it normally works? Or do we all live in castles just in case one day in 50 years something happens?
where were you during the Ukraine's shelling of civilians in Donbass that has been going on since 2014 killing thousands of civilians ?? where were you when NATO bombed old yougoslavia killing thousands of civilians ? where were you when the US attacked Iraq because of invented WMD's and killed millions ? where were you when US and NATO friends attacked Afghanistan and killed hundreds of thousand of innocent civilians ? where were you when the US invaded Syria and still illegally occupies a portion of its territory ? Where do you live ? The US and it's NATO vassals have to be stopped. Now. Europe should wake up and stop being nothing but a US military base. European country should regain their sovereignty.
@@windwaveswindwaves5329
They don't care about those casualties because they see them as Russian cats paws.
The problem is it's not as simple as all of these PowerPoint rangers seem to think.
This was entirely predictable, Russia's been twitchy about its western border since forever because Europe won't stop invading them.
NATO accomplished its mission back in 1990 yet here we are pushing an anti-russian alliance right to their border.
Let's just hope the idiots don't get us all nuked.
I'm amazed that most people are just swallowing all the propaganda about Russia and Ukraine coming from every side without a trace of skepticism or investigation. You'd think after having witnessed nearly two years of propaganda about COVID from the politicians and "news" media that would have wised people up, but evidently not. Evidently they will still swallow without thinking whatever some talking head on the TV news says.
Chris: _Ich bin Amerikaner von Geburt, Italiener von Erbe._ I can't speak for all Americans, but many of us have been wondering what the hell Germany has been doing with regard to energy and defense policy. That's especially true for those of us in science & engineering, who respect Germany's history of excellence in those fields. So, this video brings very welcome news! I certainly trust your news about Germany more than anything I expect to get from mainstream American media. Thanks for a great video!
We were just naive. We thought we could be friends with everyone (even russia) and that the military is a waste of money, because we would never again see an actual war right here in europe...
@@Gulabaff - It's a commendable attitude to try to be a friend to those who will reciprocate. Unfortunately, that does not include everyone. Some people cannot have a friend because they do not know how to BE a friend. Friendship involves trust, and some people are not trustworthy, or will not trust others, or both. It must be a miserable, lonely, desperate life. Such people are capable of great violence.
I can understand the hope that Europe would never again see war, but from my perspective, war is inevitable as long as political states exist...and not only in Europe. War is simply a greater degree of what states already do-namely, use legalized coercion to control people. In the "democracies", the coercion is not naked force. Rather, it's the subtler coercion by fraud that results from the myth that we are free because we can choose our tyrants.
It's not clear what Russia hopes to accomplish by its recent actions. It's not even clear that Ukraine (by which I mean the Ukrainian state) is the innocent victim that is being portrayed in the media. What is clear is that people are suffering and dying at the hands of politicians. It's an old story that never changes, yet the human species cannot seem to break the addiction to the belief that political states are the only way to govern ourselves.
Anyhow, until we break that addiction, we're stuck with what we have, and we still have to defend ourselves if we're attacked. Tne best way to minimize the possibility of war is to be absolutely prepared for it, to the point where anyone who is damn fool enough to try attacking receives a lesson in the inadvisability of doing so.
For my part, I believe the world would be much better off with a strong Germany, using that strength not for aggression but for instructing others that aggression is a very bad idea that will not end well for those who try it.
I was dumbstruck during the whole last week, I completely believed that Russia would annex the 'Republics' officially, never that they would invade. Chris, at least the Silver lining in this situation is that the world is reminded how quick and violent something can become, and that maybe this will stop other wars from occurring in the future... No matter how awful that is to say.
No that is not what Russia is doing.
They are building a new empire and that means they are coming for the whole of Europe. They are under the impression that the west is mentally weak right now.
Just like what the Japanese imperial war machine thought in WW2 when it attack America. The West needs to send out the message "We have nuclear weapons to" so as to dispel the idea in Russia that they can carry out strikes with no consequences.
@@bighands69 You are absolutely correct.
Of course it doesn't help the West to have 'the Ginger Pussi-Grabber' (exPresident Trump) say as Chris indicated Putin's a 'great guy' or more recently that Putin's genocide in Ukraine made him a 'Genius'.
Here in the UK most people think:
(i) The GP-G will say whatever Putin tells him too - Bbecause Putin has some serious 'dirt'( 'kompromat' is the Russian term) on him.
Some rumours have been around suggesting 'not only the girl but also the goat were under-age' (- But of course no one outside Putin & Trump know for sure and I wouldn't say that myself ;-p )
(ii) It appears Trump may have already sold Ukraine down the river when he blocked weapons supplies because Ukraine would not forge corruption deals with Biden's son.
(iii) Many in England regard the GP-G as an absolute 'Berk'. (Which is actually a contraction of 'Berkshire Hunt').
(iv) And finally that, in England we rather enjoy rhyming slang.
@@bighands69 ". The West needs to send out the message "We have nuclear weapons to" so as to dispel the idea in Russia that they can carry out strikes with no consequences."
NO.
Nuclear weapons are irrelevant in this context. Furthermore, the previously relied upon assertion of M.A.D. ( Mutually Assured Destruction) is also irrelevant because "Russia" Does Not Exist.
What does that mean?
It means that a nation state with a national identity and self interest has been supplanted by a loose coalition of nationless oligarchs and "Russia" exists only as an extradition free base to operate from, with their money hidden and sheltered in Switzerland, Great Britain and other entities. As a dictatorship with none of the democratic checks and balances, Russia can thus weather financial austerity, sanctions or even a high death count for their adventures, without ever being called to task.
What the West has to do, is not sabre rattle with impotent threats of nukes, but a willingness to establish deep and mutually painful sanctions, not just on Russia as a country but on the oligarchs, individually and personally. These sanctions have to extend to their immediate family circle as well, i.e. Those Who Profited Must Also Pay
@@stephenwilkinson1254
Maybe you need to go and write an academic paper on the subject so that nobody can read it.
In the real world Nuclear weapons do matter hence why bloody Putin threatened countries with them.
@@Farweasel
So you are saying that the West should pretend they have no nuclear weapons?
As a german, we should 100% build our own planes but neither do we have the luxury of time nor is there the political will to do so. Buying state of the art jets from the US is the logical step. Longterm though the EU needs its own Army and Arms programs, It's too expensive for everyone to develop tanks and aircrafts individually.
Beside the lack of a decent multipurpose aircraft, we desperately need transport helicopters, state of the art drones with option to be armed and our Anti air capabilities seem outdated aswell. Not sure if there is the political will for an own defensive ballistic grogram but we probably should have one either.
If you've ever researched Operation Paperclip they are in a roundabout sense distantly related to the first jets ever built. Not trying to be controversial, but it is essentially the facts.
The main problem is the amount of defects and terrible decisions made about that plane. Its uptime is ridiculously low compared to similarly capable aircraft (meaning it needs an absurd amount of maintenance), its stealth is a gimmick when fighting a modern army (don't get me wrong, it'll be great against some rebels in a distant country but certainly not against the Russians), its fighting capabilities are only decent when the stealth capabilities aren't factored in, and its associated costs are just way too steep (and don't get me started on the closed ecosystem of weapons that can actually be equipped on the F-35). The rest of your comment makes a lot of sense though.
The Eurofighter was a huge flop. So probably no
@@TheStammzilla no.
If you want to destroy German defense capabilities for good, you just buy foreign stuff and don’t bother with building anything yourself. 🤷
I have one disagreement. Germany has not spend 2% of it's GDP on the Army, this year the plan was 1.4%. But in absolute numbers, because German GDP is big, the spending is quite substantial.
Germany is #7 in the world slightly behind Russia and the UK, and on the same level as France.
In regards to the Army size, about 180.000, this should have had the Bundeswehr well equipped. The point the the Bundeswehr did not have a sufficient budget is quite a red Hering. A big problem must be, how the money was spent. A huge expense is usually the navy, a big part of the expense in the UK for example. Germanie's navy is tiny compared.
If the increased money is not wisely spend, one will not see much of an improvement.
UK is surrounded by water germany is mainly surrounded by land
Well, the state of the German Army is much worse than the state of any of the other countries that spend their money in the defense (industry or else) so, not sure you are in the 7th place (of what? I don't really get what ranking you were referring to) but no, you're definitely not on France's level (UK and France are on similar level, but I would rank Germany under Poland or Ukraine in term of actual capabilities.
Especially considering the population and GDP of Germany, which you specifically pointed out as being so much more than the rest of Europe
@@stitch77100 It's #7 in Rank of spending cost
@@jomai9059 which is irrelevant given the size of Germany population and GDP.
The more people you need to defend, the more military (or the best equipment) you need. Which cost more money... I'll tell you the reason of your ineffective spending: most of the German military budget goes to administrators (federal and local desk sitters with no other goal than ensure the military don't cost to much) and not in the soldiers nor the military industry.
Beside, France spend much more in nuclear force than Germany(no surprise here), and still find fundings for a new tank AND a new jet aircraft in cooperation with Germany. But the German parliament refuse to fund those projects fully. What's your excuse then, if you spend "the same level as France" ?
@@stitch77100 You asked "the 7th place of what?" and i answered your question. No need for any further reply of you. Overspending in the Bundeswehr is a Well known subject in Germany. (Looking at you, Ursula von der Leyen)
Unless you are fighting a primitive enemy you should always assume that the airspace near your enemy is contested. An F-35 that is NOT shot down by a SA-15 SAM system is a better value for the money than a cheaper fighter that is shot down.
Cheaper fighter can out manoeuvre and out run a sam. F35 only have stealth trick which give no guarantee of being shot down by SA-15...
@@Triggernlfrl If anything that's a reason for why Germany, as the largest economy in Europe, should be leading the charge with the expensive and more specialized aircraft
@@Triggernlfrl Show me a "cheaper" ✈️ that can outmaneuver a modern anti-aircraft 🚀.
Oh, that's right, you can't. B/c it's 🐂💩.
@@Triggernlfrl no fighter can outmanouvere a sam, even giant rockets like s400 can sustain 20 Gs. No plane can do that. you can just go defensive and run but then you also got no chance of killing the sam. stealth changes that and lets you get inside the range to fire HARMS etc....
@@Triggernlfrl Ever hear of a proximity fuse?
Olaf Scholtz: only makes german copies of the new laws
Christoph: makes himself the only way for Americans to know the new rules
Also Christoph: *Gulps* ahhh
All German laws eventually get official translations at least into English and French. German, French and English are the three official languages of EU bureaucracy .
I wonder how do you and others in Germany see the timeline: Schröder ->shutting down nuclear power stations->Schröder starts working for Nord stream->pipelines are being built and making Germany dependent on Russian gas. Whilst Russian committed genocide in Chechnya, invaded Georgia, Annexed eastern Ukraine and Grimm. As an estonian I'm grateful for all the help we have gotten from Germany and EU. BUT: I/we wish you have heard of us, when we (The Baltic states) have been telling about the Russian expansionist wishes for a long time. About Putlers wishes to restore the Soviet Union. Western Europe either didn't believe them or did not want to hear the uncomfortable truth. Every time Putler made a move, world just watched in silence. Georgia, Chechnya , Grimm, and the "so called separate states in Ukraine. Nothing was done. At least as Putin saw it. In Russia strength is above everything. If you want to befriend a russian gopnik (a russian street criminal), beat the shit out of him..or at least give it all you can. Even if you loose, he will respect you. If you try to bribe him to be a friend, you will be his b*ch forever. So is with russia. And so far everyone has acted like a litte b'ch. Giving him gas money. Closing eyes to it's crimes. And every time Putler became bolder and greedier.
Anyway, I always wondered how is everyone so calm with Schröder just starting to work with Russians (If he already wasn't before ;)
Yes we Germans have been on our moral high of pacifism and detachment of reality for the last couple of decades. It’s really an embarrassment that we needed a war to get that. The left parties in Germany and especially the SPD and “The Left” have close ties to russia. Schröder is Putins guy.
So yeah let’s hope we are able to at least mitigate the damage done in the past now. Greetings
Schröder isn’t responsible
Its Merkel
The drive away from nuclear was due to domestic politics
Merkel drove this train for 20 years, Schröder for a fifth of that
It started far before Merkel. Merkel was just a replacement for Schröder. In his first term, Schröder's government decided to phase out nuclear power. Funny how the replacement was Russian gas. Even "funnier" is how Schröder went to work straight from government to Russian gas company. And has pretty openly been russian mouthpiece since then. Yes I remember the anti nuclear demonstrations in Germany. How hard do you think is for russian agents to rile up couple hundred even thousand people to do so. Pay for well written anti nuclear power propaganda pieces etc. It was very successful op and now Germany, Ukraine and the who Europe is suffering the consequences.
@@haanjamiis well again…
Schröder had one term and was in a coalition with the greens.
Merkel had many terms with the „free market, freedom" party
Many opportunities to change or influence course in order to avoid this outcome and dependency. Also to shape public opinion and have a strategic approach.
She never did that.
Merkel hurt germany and the eu very much in her 20 years
I think a EW version of the Eurofighter would be attractive to Britain as well, we dont currently operate anything in this role. The Eurofighter exports to the Middle East are going to finish production at the end of the year and BAE has started lobbying about this fact. Also the British Government see's Eurofighter as a development platform for Tempest with technology and equipment that will go into Tempest being matured on the Eurofighter. At the moment Britain is planning to retire its Tranche 1 Eurofighter in 2025 when they will have about 40% of their airframe life left as they are un-upgradeable (Currently 20 operational and 10 in storage) and is committed to the minimum F-35 buy but not to orders beyond that, these minimum orders have not yet been placed due to both cost and waiting for F-35 to come down in price/actually have all its systems fully working. At the moment 48 are planned to be acquired but they expect to order a peak of 60 and a further 20 beyond that for attrition of the early units over the aircrafts life. We have just had a large defence spending boost (though still not to a level that funds the entire equipment plan) but with whats going on I expect there will be pressure for a further defence increase (in particular with the Afghan performance even before the round the clock airlift of supplies to Ukraine the Government is reportedly interested in ordering more A400M).
I wonder though if the EW side is the main reason Sweden and Saab is involved. But combined maybe very potent product. Though not sure they will be so opend and cooperative.
When the so called Race of Euro-canards started (Eurofighter, Rafale and Gripen) it was Eurofighter which had a lead as it had 4 countries that were commmited to it, then was Rafale and then Gripen. Now, Rafale has bigger order book than both of them, I guess Indian testing and subsequent selection of Rafale gave confidence to many prospective buyers about Rafale. Eurofighter had issues because it had 4 countries trying to steer it in different directions. Since neither of these countries had any immediate threat, they were not that eager for upgrades. The AESA upgrade which was touted in 2011 has recently come about. but none of the partners were that eager for it. On the other hand Rafale, Gripen are having regular upgradess. Both these have operational planes using AESA and Meteor.
The 4 countries 3 of them have Tornado which were to be replaced, but they never planned to develop A2G weapon systems beyond SCALP/Taurus. there was SPHEAR. This was so much evident that these air forces are thinking of buying some other plane to fulfill the strike role but not invest in development of A2G avionics and weapons. They do not plan to buy more planes than committed before, rather those committed nos have come down. Anyone who has purchased Eurofighter is now stuck without newer weapons or avionics. The spares are another problem altogether. EADS had earlier proposed carrier based Seatyphoon, but it did not go past a scale model. The 4 developers, none of them had a carrier when the idea was developed, then UK which had two carriers coming, prefered to order F-35B - F-35C instead of developing Sea Typhoon, that shows that even the core companies did not really believe in the product.
Ordering is one thing, the people at helm need to know that the planes will be delivered at least 5 years after ordering, as there is big order book. Anything that is ordered now will take 4-5 years to deliver. Would have been better to order Airbus A-350 which Qatar Airways are refusing, those are available and can be fitted in months time. also the spares are easily available.
@@sachinmesta4238 Qatar sued Airbus and won an injunction to stop the manufacturer cancelling their order.
@@sachinmesta4238 The UK decision to opt for the F-35B (not C) for its RN aircraft carriers has nothing to do with a lack of confidence in the Typhoon. The UK is a development partner in the JSF, so it always intended to operate the F-35 and indeed, originally intended to acquire more units than it has so far.
By contrast, the EF Typhoon was primarily intended as a specialized A2A interceptor, with both the UK and Germany continuing to rely on the Tornado for both A2G and EW until recently (as it neared retirement), which is why it took so long for A2G capabilities to be added to the former. The above decision is also partly why France, who wanted a true multi-role aircraft, left the EFA program to develop the Rafale.
However, the EF has indeed been upgraded with the latest A2G weapons (Anglo-French Stormshadow/SCALP, US Paveway and UK Brimstone), anti-ship missiles (Italian Marte ER) and is finally also getting an AESA radar, albeit long overdue. It is also configured for METEOR and IRIS-T for A2A. It has taken almost 20 years for the EF to receive all these upgrades and become a multi-role fighter, but it's now just as capable as the Rafale.
The UK decision to specialize the Typhoon crippled its export potential as most foreign buyers would prefer to purchase a single aircraft which can perform multiple roles. However, it's expected to remain in service with the consortium of 4 countries that developed it for another 20 years.
I can say eurofighter is already Successful in the Middle East the Saudi Air Force have 80 eurofighters and in Kuwait they will receive 40 eurofighters
Cooles Video Chris, ist zwar immer komisch Infos über Deutschland von einem Deutschen auf Englisch anzuhören aber immer gut zu sehen dass es jemanden gibt der das macht - und das so gut :) Weiter so!
Delighted to see Germany is overcoming its understandable concerns and doing the right thing for NATO and Europe. We need you! Thank you.
Keep it coming Chris - I think spin free content such as yours is far more informative (& less nuanced) than the thin dross we get from the mainstream media.
Good video, for sure, except for the Trump spiel at the end. I’m one of those that voted for Trump the first time, and I abstained from voting the second time around. I can tell you that if the Biden admin maintains it’s current trajectory, Trump will be back in 2024.
If you doubt that, just look at Biden’s ratings - they’re even worse than Trump’s were at the same stage of their presidencies.
@@khaldrago911 Trump's recent cheering for Putin's invasion has ensured he'll not make it through the primaries, IF he makes it to them.
@@GARDENER42 he’ll be fine. Dude’s got a firm grip on the GOP.
@@khaldrago911 He's a dangerous lunatic with only a tenuous grip on reality & I say this as a life long conservative.
Don't get me wrong; the alternative (Clinton) would have been disastrous & the media spent 5 years vilifying him but his intemperate drivel over the past 15 months is an embarrassment.
@@GARDENER42 he sure is crazy, and that’s probably what kept Putin (and others) honest during his 4 years. If it’s a choice between Joe and his ho or Trump in 2024, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Donald takes the Oval Office again, especially going off recent poll numbers. It sure ain’t looking pretty for sleepy Joe.
The 2% promise is from 2006 and it likely took a long time to get to that. Instead of keeping the promise they gradually cut spending. Yes, the new guy is repeating the promise but we need to see what he actually does when the current crisis ends.
Amen
he's pledging more than 2%
@@carlosandleon Let's hope so or Germany might just be posing for the camera to look good now. Action speaks louder than words when it comes to Germany.
German has an air force of about 250 potential fighter craft and that will probably mean the first part of spending will be getting that operation and in active status as quickly as possible.
And then acquiring another 50 to 100 aircraft. All the major European countries will be doing the same thing. Germany will also be activating its great air defence capabilities.
All of this needs to be happening at a yesterdays pace meaning they need to be fast acting and decisive.
If this is true than Germany will have a military budget of 3 percent of it's gdp
I am so glad to have all of you as our allie's i. this crazy world. 🇺🇸 🇩🇪 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 🇫🇷 🇦🇺 🇵🇱 and more than I can remember right now cheers to you all 🥂 🍻
Scholz' speech was excellent. This crisis has turned a somewhat colourless chancellor into a real European statesman.
not really. Germany was absolutely peer pressured into doing this. SPD are absolutely russian lovers and theyd still be doing it if not for the pressure.
@@Keckegenkai I honestly don't care how this happened, it's important that it happened. Scholz basically told the nation that they shouldn't dream about warm ice cream and that Germany needs a functioning, effective military, and he also said that tons of money would be provided to achieve this. While I am absolutely no fan of modern leftist politics, I honestly think Scholz is the right man for the job. As an Austrian, I am not that familiar with German domestic politics, but Scholz always made a pragmatic impression on me.
The 2% promise is from 2006 and it likely took a long time to get to that. Instead of keeping the promise they gradually cut spending. Yes, the new guy is repeating the promise but we need to see what he actually does when the current crisis ends.
@@michaelkovacic2608 not gonna happen probably. We already have a 50billion military budget; a budget that is on par with France, yet nothing to show for it. There needs to be a fundamental change before throwing money at it, but I simply not seeing the will to change anything. The money will line the pockets of consultants at McKinsey, politicians and friends of Ursula von der Leyen, like it did before.
@@Keckegenkai yes, I always wondered about the difference in military power of Germany and France, since their budget is pretty much the same right now. Germany certainly needs to urgently adress this issue.
I’ve been arguing that Canada needs more warships and planes. Even jokingly call myself the rare Canadian war monger. I suspect a lot of people are coming around to my point of view here too.
As a fellow Canadian I agree. I'm not a war monger by any stretch either, but Canadians seem willing to support our military only if we don't spend money doing it :(
@@geraldmartin9792
Most Canadians don’t realize that our military is top ten for combat capabilities.
A more militarized Germany makes sense, given its geopolitical position. They share a continent with a belligerent power, and they can’t necessarily rely completely on the US military .
Militarized Canada? Doesn’t make sense. Literally nobody is attacking Canada from across an ocean, and if they did, the US military is *guaranteed* to respond. Canada is in a very privileged position, it would be foolish to spend more than necessary on defense.
Even as an American I feel we need more warships, considering our rival is destroying us with tons in the water. Hopefully this will be a wakeup call to those Americans that believe China is an empty threat and a war with them will never happen.
@@LeavingGoose046 wait what?
Great video!!
Vielen Dank für diese sehr gute Beurteilung und Einschätzung der gesamten Thematik - Das Video ist m.E. genau auf den Punkt gebracht!!👍👍
Das mit „Fan of Schalke“ müssen wir uns aber nochmal genauer anschauen .. 🤣
Dear Santa, all I want for Christmas is an H&K G11... and maybe an F-35 Gruppe.
Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity to see into your German governments view of things. Americans know little, but can learn.
We have to thank you my friend!!!
You’re going to have to speak for yourself there, friend. 😁
@@danielevans8910 I do.
Russia rebuilds USSR, Germany calls shots in Europe and is one of the biggest military powers and there's a rising empire in Asia.
How does 2041 look so much as 1941? This is the worst timeline.
same here in switzerland. some politicians from the Socialist party conceeded that their assumption that conventional wars were a thing of the past was wrong
but sadly the people behind the possible referendum against the new F-35 haven't stopped collecting signatures for it
I think that such a referendum against the F35 would now be rejected. People will soon find out that the Russian and Chinese threat is very real.
They want a different plane than the F35.
@@wertyuiopasd6281 they claim that but the politicians behind it want to abolish the military as a whole. They would have been against every plane
Macron made a discorus yesterday and he indicated that he wanted to bring together the 27 at Versailles on March 12 to discuss the creation of the Europe of defence. I looked at the foreign media nobody talks about it. It may be a bit early but hey it's still major. It is a project that France has been carrying out for a long time but which has never found much support among other nations which prefer to rely on NATO. But with Germany's turnaround and the current situation, does this have a chance of succeeding?
He also announced an increase in the budget at the French level (but not quantified in his speech) but it is less major than for Germany since France already had a projection army
Europe needs US support as well. It will take a while for Germany to rebuild its armed forces. We can have that in addition to NATO, but not instead of NATO.
@@Kynos1 It is not a question of replacing NATO but of no longer being solely dependent on the United States
especially if russia and china coordinate in their attacks, what are you going to do?
There is also the question of strategic autonomy, we want to want to act on our own
@@cheveuxjaunes2782 I get what you mean. Germany is currently massively increasing military spending, but it will take some time for Germany to be ready to play its role. I think, in the future, it will be the UK´s, France´s and Germany´s responsibility to keep Russia in check while the US takes care of China.
Excellent video; puts the words from Germany into perspective.
One note: You mentioned the Defens(c)e Investment Pledge from the 2014 Wales Summit (2%). There is one additional stipulation to that: 20% of that spending needs to be used on new major end items, to include the R&D for these items. This tends to be forgotten as a stipulation and was added to ensure countries didn't just dump administrative costs into their defense budget to meet the percentage (like one country that added military pensions to get above the 2%).
Hi Chris, I posted a snarky quip on twitter saying Germany should do a "Ostpreussen heim ins Reich" to Russia, which I almost immediately regretted for obvious reasons, but to be honest, this whole situation scares the living daylight out of me. I worked for the US Air Force in West Berlin back in the 80s and the management of NATO and the Warsaw Pact alliances were far more rational than the current crop of people. The communication and safeguards between them were institutions, not the whims of people of dubious rationality. I fear this will get far worse before the end.
war is coming! BIG WAR! they will bring out the big fireworks for this one both east and west will be laid barren
People were saying the exact same thing during the Berlin Blockade (well, other than the Reich joke). It will pass. Although, let's not kid ourselves, we are firmly in Cold War II.
All I know is that Hunter Biden's laptop is very sad about Ukraine, since it means the Biden clan can no longer milk that sweet, sweet cash out of Ukraine.
@@primmakinsofis614 at least it kept Hunter with hookers and blow for years.
There’s am idea! How about Ukraine gives Russia Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk, and Russia gives Ukraine the Kaliningrad Oblast?
Excellent video Chris. As an Australian it's quite difficult to obtain reliable info on these topics so thanks helping out us English speakers.
Unrelated, but as a yank, I'm saying ute from now on.
"Throw it in the back of the ute" is fun to say and I love the confused looks I get, it's hilarious.
@@grindcoreninja6527 Welcome to Australia mate, any man who knows about utes is a true champion in my book!
I served in Germany in the 80s and I'm glad to hear you're getting back on track.
And you're fortunate to have Olaf I feel he'll be a great leader.
I love how sassy Chris is when dunking on content-creators that spread false information
Well, as a German myself I can only say that it's so very painful to read comments or hear news about Germany in the English speaking press. It's really painful every single time because it's so obvious that they don't even understand how legal processes work here.
As an example: when the new government was elected, which consists of three political parties, the US media wrote "Germany won't be such a reliable partner anymore" - because Americans just can't imagine that politicians from three parties actually TALK with each other to find a good solution, instead of just screaming at each other and telling the media that the enemy party is bad. I think we have a completely different sense of democracy here and we don't really perceive the American political 2-party-system as good for democracy.
@@Rauschgenerator They also kinda forget that minority, multi-party governments have been the kind of governments we have had _for decades._
Also, lol that username :D
@@cy-one A "Rauschgenerator" is a part of vintage sound chips in retro computers like the C64 or Atari ST ;-) My channel is a retro-computer channel ;-) And well, I talk so much that I thought this would be ambiguous^^.
I think in Germany we were lucky with quite stable 2-party-coalitions all the time. Not like Italy or France, which were always quite chaotic.
As revealed by the present conflict:
In addition to the present types of drones we also need an ultra cheap low radar visibility top attack swarm drone to deliver constant and continuing attrition on groups of moving vehicles. Foam shapes covered in carbon fibre with mini turbines like those used in radio control hobby planes with simple sensors and cpu, achieving low vis mainly by shape, made in the tens of thousands and launched by the hundreds at a time. They can be brought in by cars, vans, strapped on the backs of people on bicycles. even on foot.
High tech expensive has its place, so does it's opposite.
This is likely to be a long and hard affair. And it’s by no means certain that basic simple equipment can’t be a match for all the sophisticated stuff. After all the Taliban pushed the allies out of Afghanistan. The west is at last taking its security seriously and seems to be actually working together.
Also: Cruise- and ballistic-missile defense over all key military installations and warehouses.
Cause that's what was struck first.
@@SkywalkerWroc That's standard practice these days anyway - you just assume your enemy knows all your key installations and will take those out first - so you build loads of spoof ones and store your stuff in exactly none of them. Dispersion is the name of the game.
@N Fels
Why don't we get our friends to float us a loan and the US government can develop it for you.
@N Fels
You just gave me an idea for a car towed glider...
So, just to make things clear. Up to this point, Germany, as a member of NATO, had agreed to spend 2% of GDP on defence but spent less than 1.4%? And Russia, which has the largest nuclear arsenal in the world, has "security concerns?"
Yeah, Putin's "security concerns" were either baseless paranoia from the start or just a preparation for what we see now.
God only knows how good those nukes are or if they work in large numbers.
Putin should get "The best PR for joining the NATO of the year" award. Both Finns or Swedes, first time over 50 % support joining NATO. Putin's action turned me, a lifelong NATO skeptic, to "definite join" supporter in one night, or morning to be precise.
I like the position of the new German government to develop the future military systems here, in Europe. The Union shouldn’t be dependent on foreign sources for its security.
It's high tech development jobs, that's needed in today's world, in order to stay on the cutting edge.
It is as well a question of manufacturing these weapon systems independently of partners dar away.
@@scratchy996
German industry like US, Japan, Britain and Korea is at the cutting edge of industrial development.
I think before all of this finishes a lot of Westerners are going to die and a much larger number of Chinese and Russians.
@@bighands69 "at the cutting edge of industrial development. " - and they have to remain that way.
Western politicians were bribed to let China buy high tech companies.
This was huge mistake, the Chinese are now technologically as advances as the West, so the West must step up their High Tech game, and outlaw the sale of high tech know-how to the Chinese, Russians and other terrorist states.
Like Stalin said, when the British leftists sold him Rolls Royce jet engines : " What fool gives away his secrets to his enemies? "
The Soviets then promptly put those engines on their Mig-15 and used them to kill Americans in the Korean War.
@@scratchy996
China is nowhere near the advancement level of the west. It one thing to know how to do something and entirely different thing to be able to build it.
China's jet fighters are trying to copy western designs but simply are not at that level. They are always playing catch up as they do not have their own creative culture. Clearly the west should not be enabling China to advance.
I do not think it is corruption but more a case of westerns thinking that they can get China to go in the same direction as the west.
But here is the thing China has not developed them self.
I have worked with German engineers and it's welcome news that Germany has decided to invest more in defense of NATO. Germany can contribute much to the strength of the free world if they develop new weapons to counter Chinese and Russian weapon platforms (don't mistake Russian performance in Ukraine with their engineering abilities). America, Germany and Japan make the most formidable military engineering on the planet and the free world could be assured of having the strongest in the world.
Never thought I'd see the day when the world cheers on Germany re-arming. But here we are.
Most of the world has been fine with Germany since the 50s. At least the West with West Germany.
In fact, immediately after WW2 Germany started to rearm
Further sales of the F-35 to the Luftwaffe will hopefully bring down the cost of the F-35A (Assuming that is the version that the Luftwaffe orders)
Could be. Some measures of cost such as flyaway cost have fallen for the F-35 to such levels as to undercut many "competitors."
I must put quotes on "competitors" since the F-35 greatly outperforms them. EDIT: in contested airspace.
@@psikogeek Thanks for the replies. This is of interest to me as a Canadian. AS you may or may not know we are looking for a replacement for our CF-18 Hornets. The competition is between the F-35 and the Swedish Gripen E. I am not sure which variant of the F-35, BUt I would assume it would be the A model, though the C would also make sense because of the range the C has.
@@michaeldenesyk3195 As you may or may not know, the Canadian Air Force recommended the F-35 but politics intervened. Don't know which versions. Such is a debacle like the submarine scandal.
The reason Germany was so reluctant to spend the 2% is this would yield - I guess - the 3rd or 4th highest military budget in the world. About 2x the amount of Russia's budget.
You have to calculate Russia's budget in PPP(2 - 2,5 x). Russia is well over 200 B USD, without its "extra budgets".
Yeah, I think the goal of Germany was to fly under the radar. If you pose no threat, you won't be attacked first. As long as other deterrents are in place, they will be the first target. And obviously you can use the spare money to invest in other things, i.e. Nordstream 2 or BER... :D.
It is kind of a dick move, which is why Nato members didn't like it that much (they need to fill the gap Germany created).
@@EK-gr9gd yeah sure bud...we can clearly see that huge budget on full display..wtf are clowns like you smocking.
Although the Ukrainian army and the civil resistance are fighting impressively brave the outcome of the Russian invasion will probably be successful in the end. Needless to say: many more lives will be lost, what a tragedy.
Strategically this will mean that NATO and the EU will have four new borders with an highly unstable country under Russian occupation - which IMHO will inevitably lead to tensions or even conflicts with its western neighbors.
We can not leave our eastern partners (more or less) alone in that situation. IMHO this was one of the reasons why so much has changed in German politics within a couple of days.
@Kirk Wolfe in fairness, the US in the 19th century basically didn’t have foreign possessions or a real military. And honestly Europe as a separate allied pole of global hegemony probably works better than a unipolar American dominated system. Especially given our habit of electing the absolutely most idiotic people.
@@UnsolicitedContext are you talking about the USA or EU leaders? Both have very stupid leaders for the most part, I would say Biden is a bigger joke than Trump but there is a lot of competition for that crown, probably Bush jr is the real winner there.
I don't think Russia can hold all of Ukraine, I also don't think the EU and it's members are just going to do nothing, this is something they can't just ignore or solve by sending weapons, it will take time but right now I would not be suprised if before years end we have boots on the ground in Ukraine to force Russia to have proper peace talks, after all Putin wants to reach a political goal, prolonging the conflict is not good for anyone, surrender is not possible for Ukraine, so something is better than nothing.
The war will continue for years. Russia won't be able to govern the country. Guerrilla war will continue with lethal weapons like javelin missiles, drones and so on Supplied by NATO
@@peterlojewski7057 Depends entirely on what the campaign goals are. If, for instance, this was mostly a Mafia-style shakedown of Ukraine by Russia -- "It'd be a shame if we had to smash up even more of the country, so pay us the protection money", that sort of goal has a very different exit condition from one of pure conquest.
Strategic Airlift is also on the shortlist. I wonder what's coming up in that area since there is no strategic airlifter in production or development.
Very good point. Germany, as well as many other european partners, relied on SALIS, which chartered ukrainian transport planes.
Maybe the old idea of a freight variant of the Airbus A380 will be realised. Some airlines decided to stop operating the A380, so some aircraft of this type may be available for conversion.
I don´t anyhting is going to happen in that regard, unless a heavy lift helicopter is now considered strategic airlift.
The A400 should be enough for the aim of defending Germany and Europe. The strategic airlift feels like 2000s project, now that Germany wants to focus on Europe rather than adventures on the side of globe this project seems outdated.
A400 is on the edge of tactical and strategic. If that doesn't work, the Kawasaki C-2 provides more range for greater payload
Been relying on the US. The US may need it in the Pacific shortly.
We have defense pacts with Taiwan, the Philippines, Japan and Australia.
China isn't going away.
@@roadrunner6224 The defence of europe will shurely require less strategic arilift capability. But I am unsure, if germany will be able to abstain from any strategic airlift in the future.
Thank you for sharing these historical changes in Germany. I am looking forward seeing facts.
In France, we are talking about "high intensity war", from last year. We have now, good equipments, but not enough in volume.
It is not a drastic change, as in Gernamy.
I hope these dramatic events, will push our two countries to move forward, with the different commun projects...
I am pleased to see this and pleased the SDP has come to its senses that a strong Germany is not a threat, but a shield to European security. Now get nuclear power plants and become energy independent.
I'm happy to see things changing in Germany, but devastated that it took untold loss of life to make it happen. Let's not mince words - appeasement and "it's not that bad" gave Putin the room he needed to invade Ukraine and think that the rest of the world would roll over and not throw a fuss.
u r out of your mind, Putin is the only hope for humanity!
@@windwaveswindwaves5329 how so?
@@fulcrum2951 I assume he must be being sarcastic. It's hard to imagine how anyone could seriously believe that.
@@gareththompson2708 Its the internet dude. People will believe what he stated
@@fulcrum2951 wake up, look around ? use your brain and realize the huge propaganda campaign. You guys, like each and every Eu/nato country are nothing but a US vassal and just swallow the propaganda machine out of there on an infinite loop. Come on, I had such estime of the german people but now you are just a bunch of little servants.
Trump also was and odd one Putin didn't dare test..... but yeah let's stay on the hate train. Also, lots of people called Putin a great guy, including lots of German. Who also told America to leave and there was no need for their bases or military anymore .....
It is the mandatory trump bashing on youtube . And like always they take trump out of context. ,Just like the MSM told them to do . In the end they properly have to buy the f-35 from him
The special fund is separate from the regular defense budget. So it is €100 billion plus the €50 billion or so from the defense budget.
I think the most important issue for German security is still domestic energy supply. The nuclear power stations MUST be recommissioned to limit dependence on Russian gas. They can be turned off again once renewables are sufficient but right now it is necessary!
“Once renewables are sufficient” - which will basically be never. Let’s get those nuclear power plants back online - and arrest the fifth column agents among the “greens” who pushed us into so many bad energy decisions.
flawed argument, gas is used for heating in germany not so much for energy production.
@@Hexadris it is very much used for electricity as well. Besides, if you have enough electricity, it is easy (and cheap) to switch to electric heating.
@@Just_another_Euro_dude Greens hate nuclear. So nuclear plants closed and coal use escalated to 100 billion tons a years.
At the risk of causing pain for a German youtube channel but I've always admired Chamberlain - he opposed war and did his absolute best diplomatically to avoid it as well as fighting Churchill in parliament to try and avoid it but he knew that a strong military was necessary, funded and developed lots of things (Spitfire, Lancaster, KGVs) that meant that the equipmet and forces were in place when he failled (if you listen to the whole of his speach following the invasion of Poland it's hugely appologetic) and made sure Churchill had the military capability available to him.
Easy for us in hindsight with no experiences of horrific total war to judge but if we’d let the Czechs defend themselves they likely would still have lost isolated as they were but casualties would have been horrible for Germany.
Chamberlain also knew, as Daladier, that their armed forces were not prepared. From 1938 to 1939 both France and Britain increased their military spending greatly, like Germany (or Europe) is doing today. If Hitler had not invaded Poland, France and Britain would have reduced the military gap with Germany in subsequent years.
Well, at least you wont need to resuscitate the Swordfish to equip the Marineflieger...
@MilitaryAviationHistory
Hopefully not. Chris doesn’t like Swordfish. He’s got a bone to pick with them. ;)
Would German experience not favour a biplane cruise torpedo delivery platform?
I remember the German Army from Cold War days and they were always excellent in military competitions, great with armour and very professional.
Then years later I saw constant reports of poor budgets, bad morale, submarines never at sea, very old aircraft, etc, etc. Basically very poorly looked after thanks to politicians.
This budget increase is a good thing for Germany as it is now politically leaning away from Russia. A fair bit of the shouting in the footage is very pre Putin German politicians trying to shout down Schultz with far more telling them to pipe down.
The EU has imho unfairly leant on the French armed forces as they have kept at great expense an excellent military capability. If Germany is serious about rearming it shouldn’t replicate what France has but fill in the gaps France and their partners have. Strategic airlift is one. At least large cargo can be used in disaster relief.
Well said. Europe needs to be able to defend itself from America. Not because the US shouldn't help their allies, but because Europe might to be completely self sufficient.
ya we. head winning streaks over and over at the Cannadian Army Trophy competition.
It was glorious.
I'm really proud that Germans can admit their misguided notions. You have this American's respect.
And you gave money from German tax payer! USA policy is sell, sell and let Slavic people kill each other! Remember Powell!
Thank you for the video, and thank you to the German people for stepping up and confronting this crisis head-on! Things are getting really concerning with Putin's statements about his nuclear weapons, and Belarus just voted in a referendum that they can now have nuclear weapons in their country. Belarus president Lukashenko also said he was going to provide troops to fight in Ukraine (at least one Chechnya fighter has already been captured in Ukraine). Stay tuned, and I hope we all come out of this one alive!
Belarussian troops won't make much of a difference. Their training and equipment are at par with Russian conscripts if not worse. If anything, they will be of token value, merely a show of demonstration of Lukashenko's loyalty to Putin. The Chechens are even worse in quality.
I just get ancient Soviet vibe every time I see the Belarusan president and ministers in a room on TV now. But excepting the war potential it feels like seeng the Chaplin The Great Dictator film. Grim times.
Along with Japan, Germany has been a model citizen since WW2 and their leadership and wisdom in world events is welcomed.
It is time the big democracies made a stand against these Dictators.
Thank you for your interesting analysis and commentary on current events, Chris.
_It is time the big democracies made a stand against these Dictators_
Does that include China?
@@primmakinsofis614 What else would you call Xi's one man rule, "President for life" etc?
From the UK Brothers and Sisters .... We love you guys .... lets all get our shop in order and back up all our hate for any aggression or war.
I'm sharing this. Thank you for laying the basic law/process for Germany procurement etc. Many of us in the States are bitching and moaning about NATO spending/Germany and or lack there of. But also they dont understand German culture of "This is who we are as a people, our hopes, dreams and desires" Now it's shattered by world events.
Also Americans aren’t taking responsibility for the USA’s role in changing the German people into thinking this way after WW2. The USA wanted Germany (and Japan) to become ultra pacifist. And then quickly regretted it soon after the Cold War started.
@@timonsolus Obviously it wasn't just America's interest that Germany and Japan were pacified in the manner that they were, but the difference now is that there is a broad swath of Americans (maybe not majority, but certainly a plurality) that feel nowadays that it is time for these countries to step up in defense, even if it requires some treaty adjustment (such as Japan). Much of this has to do with the growing exasperations with countries that rely on our military presence to maintain some aspect of order while frequently complain about it as well.
@@leonardwei3914 The US hardly maintains "order". Its more accurate to say they maintain the interests of their allies, as long as those interests align with their own. Almost every single war within the last 50 years I can think of was the result of US meddling where they should not have.
@@lobsterbark I feel you are trying to be a contrarian just for the sake of being one. Maintaining the interests of allies with our own using the Anglo-American network of influence worldwide is a sense of order, regardless if you feel it is appropriate or not. But we can disagree with what constitutes "meddling" and "should not have" because I can point to a few wars and conflicts in the past 100 years we were drawn into that were not primarily of our own interest.
@@leonardwei3914 My position isn't the contrarian one. It's the position the vast majority of people on earth hold.
The problem with replacing Tornado IDS and ECM is it has been too good at its job, but the technology is from the age of the electric typewriter.
11:00
Leo 2A7 chassis + Leclerc turret was called EMBT.
A demonstrator showcased at 2018 Eurosatory. It was just intended to demonstrate that the previously independent companies KMW and Nexter could cooperate and jointly develop a next generation tank.
Its not MGCS nor its representation.
Although full-scale development of the EMBT could be ventured if export customers are found/interested.
I am very glad that Germany is stepping up.
It was missing in the European Union, as now we lean to much on the NATO.
However I would like a wine now.. don't know why
When I understand your comment right, I totally agree on your statements. I am also glad that Germany is stepping up and let loose the old dogma. Germany is the most important country within the European Union and I think it's important they are taking the lead in our defence. Because of the lay back culture of Germany and the Brexit (the leaving of the UK) we lean on NATO and therefor of the USA. In my opinion the USA isn't the reliable partner as they always were. There politics is more and more looking inside instead of outside their own country. Of course it's their own right to act so, but for Europe it means that it's important to unit and to work togehter intensively on the area of defense.
Proost!
@@adrian.banninksy
Well to be fair to Americans, they always came through when needed. But it is vital for Europe in this tense Geopolitical times that we do have a standalone capacity just in case.
Specifically in the times of politics that polarizing in the US we need to be able to set out our own line in things
@@jessevandeinsen4202 Totally agree on that!
I love how Germany was like "ugh, dear care workers and nurses, we actually can't pay you any more or give you any bonuses" during the pandemic but they now are like "psych, here's 100 billion for guns lol".
From a French point of view, this announcements are an other proof that Germany is one of the most unreliable industrial partner for military hardware.
After refusing to invest in cooperation programs with other countries, them came to ask France if they wanted to create the FCAS program, to build a new plane and systems with Dassault Aviation. But refused to give the lead of the project to the French. Even though the latest DA plane was the Rafale, and the French defense industry has every industry and capabilities to develop new planes and armament.
The German funding on the FCAS and the MGCS is conditioned to Bundestag acceptation every 6 months, for a several years planned project. It's a situation that present a threat to cut funding at any point, whereas the French side has already agreed to spend its part for several years, no conditions linked to it.
What is even more infuriating is that the French side has the knowledge, the engineers and the vision required to develop effective new planes, and already worked on Stealth airframe (Like the Neuron drone, that German cut the funding early because they did not see the interest in that program...). The last plane German developed completely on its own may be the Me262, all the more well known German plane were either cooperations or bought straight-up from the shelf.
By announcing they will buy the F-35 (again, buying US instead of working on developing their own industrial capabilities and learning from the process. (if you never try, you will never fail)
The signal here from the other side of the Rhein is that they don't care about the FCAS, because they will have their F-35. So no need to invest in a new plane if you have the latest US toy. They also show us that they don't mind not being compatible with other materials (as the F-35 is not yet NATO compatible, but it's okay because most of NATO is already equipped with F-35 fleet. So who cares, except the few ones that still think that being sovereign in their defense is important. Instead of having the F-35 NATO compatible, it's NATO who is becoming F-35 compatible. This renders every future EU market for plane biaised, as the new standard will not be chose by the EU but rather imposed by the USA : it will need to be F-35 compatible, for a "smooth transition", and look, we have a brand new plane to sell you...)
So, yeah, it's a good thing that Germany is finally waking up about its lack of defense capabilities, but the action will speak louder than the words (even though, the speech from the Chancelor is a welcome change in international relationship and defense policy)
I'm not sure Germany will not fall in its old habits again soon after the crisis has passed.
Couldn't agree more with a stranger. I'm french too and I have the exact same feeling
1. If we share the costs, there is no way why we would accept any technical black boxes. Germans are very reluctant to be used as financiers for French ambitions without complete ownership.
2. We will work to produce FCAS - after all, we want German jobs to continue. But we won't accept all the hogging; and I doubt that France could stem all research and development costs necessary to make a 6th gen fighter.
3. Actually F-35 will be a new NATO standard soon. Just by sheer amount of purchase. Times change and when equipment changes in a majority, adapt.
4. Interoperability will be important. And since the EU is not a big military player and most nations see their defence with NATO and not the EU, this is totally understandable.
@@Sedna063 1. No problem with sharing the cost and more importantly the knowledge. But right now you're not doing either. You challenge the technical leadership and refuse to allow 100% of the funding. So you bring nothing certain in this program but you ask us to trust you blindly. We can even doubt your engineers could develop a new plane on their own, given the few German build planes in the past decades (not a century, yet, but we are coming close to it)
2. Of course you will want to build it, at least half of it, as we do. It's understandable and reasonable. As long as you share 50% of the cost, you should get 50% of the benefices, export included (even if Germany tend to block export in coopération project, but don't mind selling artillery truck to Turkey when they were bombing Syria ;) too bad the Mercedes-Benzlogo is so easy to spot and recognise)
And if you doubt we can finance it and develop the technology on our own, watch us ;) The Rafale is being more exported outside of France than the Typhoon has been bought by its co-builder together. And its credible in its role and far from ridicule against 5th gen fighter on exercices and military operations (f-35, F-22 and the like)
3. No, the F-35 will not be NATO standard, because NATO is more than just air forces and the European clients of the USA. You want to sell your defense to the USA, it's your problem, but you can't outcast the few countries that still care deeply about their defense. You have given the keys to your castle to a foreigner, but don't expect everyone else to do the same. (We'd rather stay right alone than wrong with the crowd)
4. Interoperability is important, we agree on this one. And it's fine inside of NATO instead of the EU because their wasn't a need for EU defense at the time. But their is a difference between having a defense force NATO compatible, and depending on NATO for its own defense. France, Sweden, Switzerland and many others have chosen the first category to be in. Which one did your country chose ?
@@Sedna063 The french always see theirself as a serious alternative to the real superpowers.
Well, I dont care. We are sharing our borders with both of you but are too small to be part of these games - and we are also gping to buy the F35.
Greetings from your south (to Germany resp. de l est to France).
@@dreaminknight We don't???
We just have the 3rd military industrial fully autonomous complex in the world.
But is it Europe or an American proxy we're trying to build here??????
The plan of the EU was to build off each other strengths. European countries let their industry die for the very powerful german car industry and they're doing a spectacular job. Though it has been killing every other car industries in the south of Europe. But these countries didn't mind and helped their german counterpart.
Germany has only been defending its own interests, instead of a europe of nations, we have a europe lobby for the german industry. What's the point?
It was needed to build off each other strengths, not being so sore about buying one of your rival products. France has no issues buying others' products, even to the point of damageing their own. They have the capacity to build nuclear weapons, nuclear powered subs, nuclear missiles, planes, tanks, everything. From start to finish, from the first piece to the last with full control of the buyer country's sovereignty.
Great video as always however you getting excited had got us excited as well. As a fan of your previous drone videos this one had it's spirits high (sadly for obvious reasons) but still stood highly informative as always. I admire your formatting and dedication and realising it's kinda sad that no other nationals does these kinds of videos like you do about their countries (if i wasn't swamped with two jobs atm i would immediately start doing it for Turkey).
Love your work, love that sass, keep it up and stay safe
One good commentator from Australia is HypoHystericalHistory.
Great announcement. Nice change of perspective from you guys, and I'm saying that as a Frenchman desperate to accomplish Bismarck's old say: Let the French be a maritime power, let the Germans be a continental power. We could achieve a lot if we can tune one to another.
Our vision vision as French is that we are better off building our own "umbrella" because no ally is going to provide better guarantee than the one living on the same part of the continent than us. Time For Germany to step up. The lead is there for you to claim. Time for you to truly become a continental power in Europe. We were there assuming that role. We'll still be there, only too happy someone will, too.
Strong France, strong Europe, strong NATO. We're all at our best when we're working together and each as strong as we can be.
Indeed, joint leadership by France and Germany is sorely needed for the future, especially as the UK has left the EU. However, Poland is also proving to be a dependable and responsible ally in helping Ukraine against Russia, so perhaps it's time for the EU to reconsider their position towards them...
On a toujours été une puissance mix maritime et terrestre la puissance réellement maritime c'est les britannique. Et c'est logique eux sont une ile nous on est lié au continent mais avec un large espace maritime.
@@GonzoTehGreat You seem to have somehow confused the EU with NATO, of which the UK remains a founding and key member esp. with its two aircraft carrier strike groups.
Britain has never shirked its shared defence commitment to its allies and neighbours. Dismissive and patronising comments like this, plus numerous other petty post-Brexit micro-aggressions are the reason the British public opted out of the federalist European experiment in the first . Just be grateful we’ll remain by your side when the sh*t really hits the fan!
Thanks 🙏🏿
🇬🇧
@@olanrewajuihenacho178 There is also talk of a Europe of defense or a European army and you have left the EU
Trump said this wouldn't have happened if he were reelected - he is correct. Putin could have just sat around waiting for Trump to destroy NATO (maybe by declaring war on Denmark or something) after which Russian domination of Ukraine would be inevitable.
Doubtful. Trump is Putin's buddy so I'm pretty sure he'll just allow the Russians to walk right into Ukraine.
Trump's a failure, dude. Time to move on. He's made the US into a laughing stock during his 4 years and even contributed to the worsening of climate change.
Two corrections:
1.) It is not a requirement for NATO member states to spend 2% on defense. It was a goal formulated in a memorandum, supposed to be reached in the year 2024. So although I'm not a Donald Trump hater, he was wrong when he claimed Germany would be behind on any NATO payments, or anything of the sort.
2.) The MGCS will not be a chimera cobbled together from Leopard and Leclerc parts. They just made such a thing as a technology demonstrator and a marketing gizmo.
The new tank will be a totally new thing, not directly based on the Leopard or the Leclerc.
And how was the Northstream 2 Pipeline a bad idea?
Are you aware that the liquid gas that is delivered by ship is way more expensive and that gas Germany had paid for was "mysteriously disappearing" when using the old pipelines through Belarus and Poland?
Installing a new pipeline that would end those problems was a good idea. That the geopolitical situation has changed doesn't retroactively change that.
Furthermore, everyone has to keep in mind. One day Putin will be gone for good and the first thing the new Russian "government" will do is to travel to Germany and ask for financial assistance, like Yelsin did in 1998.
@@EK-gr9gd Why "government"? Even if a government is a dictatorship or a puppet regime, it's still the government. The only case of a government in quotes is when an insurgency holds a small part of a nation, making it unclear if they are actually the legal government. But as soon as there is only one governing body that rules, it's the government.
I was in the German Bundeswehr for 8 years, end 1980's to early 1990's. Already back then we constantly got told there is no money for this, there is no budget for that. The first thing they have to do is to get every branch back on defense status and that will take quite some time, especially now that there are shortages everywhere. Only.... and only when they are at this status, then they can talk about upgrading. So don't get excited to early. Germany never was thought as an attack rather than only a defense Military...... The stingers and the Panzerfaust included equipment and ammo is probably all they had that was still working. I am pretty sure everything supply support (nachschub) related is almost down. Air force is in horrible condition and probably Army too. My unit went shooting twice a year. 5 shots pistol, 10 shots rifle.... that's it. Maybe there are certain units that are almost fully equipped but I highly doubt it.
We tended to balance training ammo, bookings of ranges and training areas to those deploying so we too had quieter times. We’d have so many guys to catch up on courses, promotions, postings and leave you got used to the cycle.
When I did my military service and shooting training I asked them "how am I supposed to meet the requirements to finish my shooting exams, if there is not enough ammo to train with in the first place?" and that I asked even before I fired my first shot. The answer was rather simple "Welcome to the Bundeswehr. Pray." When my comrades and me got a tour on our Airforce Base... our officer's pointed out the equipment which was functional rather than the broken stuff. It was quickly done. And all of this by them saying "our goal is defense, not offense so we stretch and scrap a lot. It may change one day, but until then... we hope we'll make it." Until that day I was considering spending more time in the Bundeswehr. But at that moment I chose not to. I still have a high respect on those men and women who actually spend years or even their entire working career in the Bundeswehr and I do hope that at least those who are in conflict zones, have some decent equipment.
Very comprehensive and look forward to more updates. Take care. 🇬🇧
Nothing motivates more then hearing the wolf's howl getting close to your door. Let us see what really happens in the coming months, who has the willingness to make this promise happen.
The wolves have already attacked the neighbors and are coming so hopefully Europe gets its act to gether.
Dr. Samuel Johnson a few hundred years ago observed, “When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it doth clear his mind wonderfully.”
Fear is the ultimate motivator. Smart move to make this announcement now to the German citizens and to get voted on.
If Russia didn't start acting like Russia again the majority in that public poll would be against more military spending. Just be careful Germany, don't make the same mistakes we did after 9/11. Politicians used are fears and anger against us to get borderline unconstitutional bills passed.
From the way various nations and even U.S. States fearfully responded to COVID, people haven't quite learned that lesson.
The US had to enact its post 9/11 strategy to send out a message those that might attack the US.
The went after Afghanistan because that is where the training camps where and they attacked Iraq because it was a target to send out a message to the middle east and Asia greater.
Don't say borderline, say it with your chest. The laws passed *were certainly* unconstitutional
@@bighands69 What do those countries have to do with unconstitutional laws, which apply to America?
Germany would have needed the investments in military anyways. There was too little spending in the further development of the Typhoon (one reason why it lost all export competitions the last years), and the Tornado fleet is too old and obsolete today and expensive in maintenance.
"Take that Americans your not going to beat us on Acronyms" As an American i found myself folding my arms and saying "Ha! we're just dumb enough to take that challenge." In all seriousness great video, subscribed.
Only thing I'll say is I've seldom seen you so caught off guard and excited.
German foreign politics look like they've been blown into tiny pieces, how much actually sticks will be interesting to see.
Really seems like the invasion shook the country to its core.
'Shaken to the core' is accurate, maybe even an understatement. The 2014 Minsk Agreements now look, even to many casual observers, an awful lot like the 1938 Munich Agreement. People are shocked, many are afraid. Politicians in the EU - for who it is now practically mandatory to at least appear to have learnt the lesson - have effectively abandoned the idea that economic reprisals and diplomacy alone can still change the course. The specter of 1939 looms large over the invasion.
It did.
The best news of the year for Dassault
Great move Germany 😁
Great Video.
I'm from UK and I've said for many years we need a strong German Military Capability.
The world has changed in the last few weeks.
The most interesting thing, to me, is the proposal to amend Germany's Basic Law. If that goes through before the current shock wears off, that could be... really remarkable.
What German has realized and several other countries as well is that Russia may decide to try and march through Europe.
If F35 are purchased, doesn’t the Eurofighter EW just become a hobby platform? I can still see value in an experimental research plane , but…
do not underestimate the Eurofighter. It's still one of the worlds most capable fighting aircrafts. However the Tornado needs to be replaced. The F-35 would still be a good replacement as it's capable to carry nuclear warheads unlike the Eurofighter typhoon
I am no expert, so please correct me if im wrong, but isn't the max speed of the Eurofighter almost double of the F-35? Wouldn't it make sense to have a capable Interceptor? Also I think the Payload is much higher with the EF.
@@mr.t993 The F-35 has very much lesser RCS (0.005m2), than a new 4.5 gen aircraft (1m2) that equates to 6 times its detection range. F-22 (0.0001 m2) kill ratio 221-0
4th gen aircraft cannot compensate for the enormous difference in detection range from a stealth 5th gen aircraft which is the primary factor in those insane kill ratios, plus their overwhelmingly situational awareness.
The F-35’s fundamental design is so far advanced in terms of both Stealth and Situational Awareness - two key aspects of a 5th gen. aircraft. That it is a not even debatable. F-35 can kill SAMs and aircraft even before they see them coming.
We see this time and again in Red Flags and Northern Edge with F-35 having 28-1 kill ratio against modern 4th gen aircraft even when backed by AWACS and SAMs.
Europe now have their 6th gen stealth fighter programs, trying to leapfrog the 5th gen, but that would take decades and billions even before the first aircraft go into testing.
War is about domination and the technology that we have now allows us to get the most advantage against our enemies.
@@invictus4102
At this stage Europe does not have the luxury of replacing Tornados and needs to keep as many of them active in the sky as possible.
@@joekey8464 I haven’t found any source accept a channel that digs deep on military hardware, but according to him the Swedish Saab 39 Gripen E put up a real challenge to the F-22 with its jamming capabilities and scored second best (after the F-22) in red flag games fighting against the all mighty F-22 (source: Millennium 7 * Historytech)
2 percent of German GDP is a hell of a lot of new equipment and funding, especially for a nation with no nuclear weapons platform or program of its own. Those always take up enormous funds, so without that Germany would have the money to throw at loads of new conventional hardware; tanks, subs, planes, drones. You name it.
Germany's military should thank Putin for this.
Seeing a fully armed Germany after all these decades will be awesome to see ... but not for Putin.
Today 190000+30000 reserve, 350 Leopard 2 A7 ( + 400 older Leopard 2 A4 in storage),180 Eurofighter .
1980s 550000+500000 reserve, 5000 Leopard 1 and Leopard 2, 1000 Fighter Jets .
We can build a big army again if we need .And we have the money and the industrie .
@@kriegshammer2161 and the 1980s figure was just for the then smaller (West) Germany. Didn't realise there were 5000 tanks though, thats Soviet-like quantities.