Germany’s military procurement chief: We’ve 3 years to arm our army against a possible Russian attack!

Germany’s military procurement chief announced on Saturday that the German military has three years to acquire the necessary equipment to counter a potential Russian attack on NATO territory.

Annette Lenigke-Emden, head of the Federal Office for Military Procurement, said in an interview with Tagesspiegel newspaper in Berlin, “We must have everything necessary to be fully prepared to defend the country by 2028.”

From her part, the German Army Inspector General Karsten Breuer recently stated that Russia could be capable of launching a large-scale attack on NATO territory as early as 2029.

Lenigke-Emden said the army should have all the necessary equipment a year before that because soldiers still have to train to use it.

She expressed confidence that this would be achieved thanks to streamlined military equipment procurement procedures and the hundreds of billions of euros allocated by the new government of Friedrich Merz for defense spending.

She added that her office will submit military equipment procurement projects to the House of Representatives by the end of 2025, with priority given to heavy equipment such as Sky Ranger anti-aircraft tanks or the model that will replace the Fuchs armored transport vehicle.

Contracts have also been signed for the production of additional Leopard 2 battle tanks.

On this regard, the German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced on Thursday that the German military needs between 50,000 and 60,000 additional soldiers in the coming years to meet the increased defense capabilities requested by NATO.

In 2024, the Bundeswehr’s strength exceeded 180,000 soldiers, with a goal of exceeding 203,000 by 2031.

Meanwhile, Germany is seeking to accelerate the establishment of shelters for the population in anticipation of any armed conflict, according to Ralf Tessler, head of the German Federal Office for Civil Protection.

In a related context, German authorities began an inventory of tunnels, metro stations, underground parking garages, and basements of public buildings that could be converted into shelters by the end of 2024.

The plan is to create one million shelters as quickly as possible, as this plan would be taken into effect this summer.

Germany is preparing plans to build new underground bomb shelters amid warnings to prepare for any Russian attack within the next four years.

Ralf Tessler, head of the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance, Germany’s top government official responsible for civilian protection, said Europe’s largest economy “needs to recognize the reality of the conflict” and that the country, in its current state, is “insufficiently prepared”.

He added, “For a long time, the prevailing belief in Germany was that war wasn’t a scenario that required preparation, but that has changed… We’re concerned about the risk of a major war of aggression breaking out in Europe”.

He called for a national effort to identify tunnels, subway stations, underground garages, parking lots, and basements of public buildings and convert them into emergency shelters to quickly create space for a million people, saying that his office will present a comprehensive plan later this summer.

He added that “the country is in a race against time,” and that relying on building new shelters is insufficient, explaining that such shelters would take a long time to plan and build and would be very expensive.