Military Axis Berlin-Paris

 

PARIS/BERLIN (Own report) – Berlin is forging ahead with the German-French military cooperation by intensifying collaboration in air transport. In addition to ambitious armament projects, the defense ministries of Germany and France have reached an agreement last week regulating the operation of a joint air transport squadron based in Évreux (France) as well as the training of the necessary personnel. The squadron will be available to both countries’ tactical air transport and supplement the large A400 transport aircraft, which will also be procured jointly by the German and French armed forces. Experts view the current cooperation – for example in the framework of the Franco-German Brigade – to be insufficient, because, so far, diverging strategic goals complicate its deployment. For his “vision of a new Europe,” Emmanuel Macron, under whose presidency the cooperation is to be expanded and improved, will be awarded Aachen’s International Charlemagne Prize next week.

Russia Keeps Provoking NATO Planes: SecAF

A Russian Su-27 fighter flies over the Kamchatka Peninsula. In April, a Su-27 intercepted an American reconnaissance aircraft over the Baltic Sea in a series of hostile fly-bys in 2016 alone, the Air Force’s top civilian said.

 

The Russian air force has not shown any good faith toward NATO aircraft policing Baltic airspace in recent months by conducting a flurry of unsafe maneuvers and flybys, the top civilian leader of the Air Force said Monday.

Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said the German air force, which oversees the mission, reported “more than 30 scrambles between the end of August and the start of November this year, intercepting Russian aircraft flying near civilian air routes with their transponders turned off.”

Germany’s Nuclear Future

Once there was a great fear of a nuclear-armed Germany …

The Federal Republic of Germany has been home to a portion of nato’s nuclear weapons since the Cold War. When the arrangement was first made, some feared that Germany would break the deal with nato and use the weapons for its own interest. But today that fear appears to have vanished, and America is promoting Germany’s ability to use the stationed bombs.

ISIS 2016: Germany Plans $73M Base In Turkey To Strengthen Fight Against Islamic State Group

…and it won’t stop at ISIS. Guess who’s back.

 

German air force Tornado jets and a cargo aircraft approach to land at an air base in Incirlik, Turkey, Dec. 10, 2015. Photo: REUTERS/Umit Bektas

 

Germany is planning to open an air base in southern Turkey that will assist its military in an intensified campaign against the Islamic State group in Syria. The planned $73 million base will be built as an extension to the Incirlik base, which both the German and U.S. military use for refueling missions to Syria, Spiegel reported.

Policy-Shaping Power in the Middle East (II)

DAMASCUS/BERLIN (Own report) – Today, Thursday, the first group of Bundeswehr soldiers will be leaving to go to war against the “Islamic State” (IS or Daesh). Participation in this war, which, according to government advisors will promote Germany to a “policy-shaping power in the Middle East,” will assure Berlin reinforced integration into the most important command headquarters of the western war coalition against the IS/Daesh. It will also provide the German government more influence in the international power struggle over the reorganization of the Middle East. The establishment of an international protectorate is one of the issues. The first negotiations between the government of President Bashar al Assad, the Syrian opposition, and insurgent militias are due to begin at the beginning of January. Currently, opponents of the Syrian government and insurgent militias are in Riyadh to prepare for these negotiations, with the German government’s approbation. Even though jihadist holy warriors are taking part in the Riyadh talks of the opposition, the northern Syrian Kurdish forces, which play a central role in the war against the IS/Daesh were among those not invited by the Saudi leadership.

German fighter jets start patrolling Baltic skies with full ammo

From the Soviet propaganda outlet, Russia Today:

 

A Eurofighter Typhoon © Carl Court / AFP

 

German fighter jets are flying the Baltic skies fully armed “for the first time since the beginning of the Ukrainian crisis,” the DPA news agency reports citing the German Air Force’s Inspector General Karl Müllner. He explained the move was not about “escalation,” but it is needed to ensure parity when encountering a potential enemy. The German military official did not elaborate on which Air Force might become the enemy.

Müllner added that ammunition on board Eurofighters is also necessary to “motivate pilots” on missions in the Baltic skies.

The German Path to an EU Army (III)

BERLIN/THE HAGUE (Own report) – German politicians, military officials and the media consider the subordination of combat units of other European nations to German Bundeswehr command to be a role model for a future EU army. The integration of a paratrooper unit from the Netherlands into the German Army’s covert operations and counter-insurgency unit of the Rapid Forces Division (DSK) is considered a “milestone of integration.” An armored contingent from the Netherlands will soon be integrated into a German cavalry unit, along the same lines. The European Air Transport Command (EATC) stationed in Eindhoven, the Netherlands – currently under a German commanding officer – is also being praised as an “effective model of cooperation.” According to its own accounts, the Bundeswehr sees the EATC as a clear extension of its “radius of operations,” providing bases stretching “from be the Baltic Sea almost to Gibraltar.”

German Typhoons have intercepted 7 Russian Air Force combat planes over the Baltic Sea today

 

NATO Baltic Air Policing mission is quite busy these days….

According to the Latvian military, on Oct. 28, the German Air Force Eurofighter jets on QRA (Quick Reaction Alert) at Amari, Estonia, to provide NATO Baltic Air Policing were scrambled to intercept seven Russian Air Force planes flying in international airspace over the Baltic Sea.

Germany’s Bundeswehr established drills against invasions and popular uprising

Much like China, Germany is becoming more stealthy with what they do inland. The original article was in German and is roughly translated via Google Translate.

Completely unnoticed by the public, the Bundeswehr was rehearsing in a large maneuver the invasion of a foreign state and the use of a popular uprising against the Special Forces “Crowd Riot Control” (CRC).

In large-scale maneuvers , the Bundeswehr rehearsed the invasion of a foreign country and use against a popular uprising. A total of 3,500 soldiers and 700 land and air vehicles participated in the so-called “training exercise information” part. An Air Force officer praised the exercise because of their practicality in the words: “You develop a better understanding if you feel the matter, when you see them, you have to smell the gunpowder and hear the noise.”

Germany ‘may buy weaponised drones from Israel’

AFP – Germany is in talks with Israel to buy weaponised drones for its military that are seen as more technologically advanced than US ones, the weekly Der Spiegel reported.

The news magazine’s Monday edition said the German defence ministry had already held two meetings with Israeli military officials, in November 2012 and February 2013, on the proposed purchase.

The Backbone of the Air Force

A German government affiliated think tank is drafting scenarios for future German wars. The Bundeswehr must adapt itself to counterinsurgency operations and removing reprehensible regimes from power, explained the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP). According to this research institute, the Eurofighter, which is certified to have a “multifunctional capability,” will play a principal role. Because of the various types of bombs it carries, this jet fighter is considered excellent for close air support for ground troops, which has regularly led to massacres of civilians in Afghanistan. Secondly, the Eurofighter is considered essential for the “neutralization” of enemy “air warfare potential,” to create the conditions for “constant bombing” such as in Libya. In general, the SWP sees the Eurofighter as a “airborne computer network” with “perpetual update capabilities,” which has the capacity for becoming the “future backbone” of the German Air Force. The combat jet has also chances of being a good export item. After the Eurofighter went through its “baptism of fire” in the NATO attack on Libya, there were numerous interested buyers, particularly in the Middle East.

Full article: The Backbone of the Air Force (German Foreign Policy)