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This guy wasted about 2.3 billion Euros by grossly mishandling protective mask purchases during the Corona pandemic. His level of competence and his level of ethics fits to his party, so he's now his party's 2nd most powerful member and currently very influential on federal legislation.
I could tell more (very!) bad things about this very unnecessary person, but I'm writing this blog post in reaction to the disinformation in the screenshot. It's taken from one of the less terrible German media organisations that's usually not under suspicion of campaigning for his party (unlike many others).
They claim his waste of public funds (a.k.a. taxpayer money) is likely the greatest any German politician is responsible of.
This is a symptom of the widespread defence policy illiteracy - and this media outlet (or at least its print twin) is one of the more active and history-rich ones in terms of reporting on bad military or defence policy.
2.3 billion Euros damage - here's a short list of worse waste of money that politicians bear responsibility for (IMO the minister of defence bears full responsibility albeit members of parliament and career officers effed up as well, of course):
- near-useless Tiger helicopters
- near-useless NH-90 helicopters
- useless heavylift helicopter (CH-47) order
- useless F 125 frigates
- F-104 Starfighter (corruption and tunnel vision, not plain incompetence)
- F-35 (2.3 billion € spent fixed cost for nothing so far)
To compile this list took a minute. There's more, so much more.
S O
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The Tiger was most certainly not useless. What performed very badly was the PARS 3LR missile that was developed for it in German service. The shift away from it also does not speak to it being bad, but to the German army as a whole moving away from the classic attack helicopter concept in the face of what is happening in Ukraine.
ReplyDeleteThe NH-90 is completely fine. The horror stories come mostly from the Australian and Norwegian armed forces where sub par license manufacturing and insufficient spare parts were the culprits, along with armies being unfamiliar with this type of helicopter. It is seeing great success especially in its naval version and the land version is by now also mature and works well.
The CH-47 and F-35 points are clownish.
The F-125s were bad procurement decisions, but not from a programm management perspective (though that had its hiccups). The navy was set the goal of building a patrol vessel for anti piracy and extraction operations on the other side of the planet and that is exactly what it got. They are also being upgraded with IRIS-T SLM, so might become more capable in the future.
The Starfighter scandal took place in the 50s/60s in West Germany; Spiegel is probably referring to the reunited Germany when it says "ever".
The German Tigers are dedicated tank hunters. PARS 3 LR is crap and thus the entire system is near-useless.
DeleteHydras and threat simulation to train others are disproportionate uses compared to the costs.
The NH90 is near-useless for even if it was flying well simply becuase of the threat situation at the front not permitting regular transport flights. The air force needs no transport helicopters, it could make do with light fixed wing transport aircraft.
CH-47 is not usable within 20...40 km of the front due to UAV and LOAL CAM threats.
F-35 doesn't do much without American support and is an irresponsible purchase under the curren circumstances (and since 2016).
F125 are "equipped for, but not with". They're overpriced OPVs, not combat ships. They're useless in the Red Sea, for example. "The navy was set to" - this is responsibility of the MoD. I hold the MoD responible for the waste of public funds. I don't blame the shipyard. IRIS-T SLM is the kind of air defence early 1980's West Germany wanted for its FACs. It's not enough for a frigate of the size and cost of F125 or for convoy protection. Even a F125 with IRIS-T SLM could not reliably defend cargo ships against the 1982 Super Étendard+Exocet combo for want of CEC with airborne sensor.
BTW, how can you claim NH-90 naval version is a great success? It's only now (after decades) arriving in German service. Sweden is already retiring them because they think they're terrible.
DeleteSorry, but your points about helicopters not being useable near the front is bullshit. Even in the current war in Ukraine where the frontline is essentially completely static and thus perfect for drones and AA, the Ukrainians have successfully performed helicopter assaults at the very frontline. To say nothing of the logistics role.
DeleteOn a battlefield that doesn't move slower than a geriatric snail, this is even moreso the case. Also, the Tigers could have been equipped with Hellfire and probably now JAGM like the French versions were.
"BTW, how can you claim NH-90 naval version is a great success? It's only now (after decades) arriving in German service. Sweden is already retiring them because they think they're terrible."
Because Germany isn't the only user, it has been in use with other navies for well over a decade now.
Again, the F-125 were not procured to do convoy escorts, they were built to offensively hunt pirates, shell land targets and support special forces on the other side of the world. The IRIS-T SLM upgrade would also give them area air defense as an ability. And when they were procured, that was a sensible capability set. Using them defensively rather than offensively is RoE and intelligence problem, not a problem with the ship.
1) Regarding helicopter survivability. It's important to read properly. I chose my words accurately in another reply below:
Delete"It's unusable at the front once the Russians figure out CEC (cooperative engagement capability) combining two thermal camera-equipped UAVs with the S-350's 9M96 SAM missile (which can lock on after launch a.k.a. LOAL).
In the most forward 15 km you can even use infrasound sensors with a LOAL missile (including Iranian 358 a.k.a. SA-67) without any radar or flying sensor to kill it."
What's happening now or happened recently is no counter to this argument.
2) NH-90NFH/MH90/Sea Tiger was phased out in Sweden. This NEVER happened to a good aircraft after so few years post-1960.
3) F125 is irrelevant to the constitutional mission of the German armed forces, defence. PERIOD.
It doesn't matter what things it COULD have done or was meant for. It's useless in its constitutional mission. The money was wasted. Moreover, it did absolutely jack shit useful things so far.
I agree with the previous poster on CH-47 and F-35, the others are based on mistakes. Which is unavoidable, to err is to be human. That does not mean you should just accept it.
ReplyDeleteThe mask scandal is different, it's not some oopsie, it was blatant corruption because it served to enrich their cronies. A better example for similar corruption from military procurement would be the Schützenpanzer Lang HS.30 program
Also the Spiegel is not pro CDU because it is much too biased in favor of the left.
I didn't claim Spiegel is pro-CDU. They're pro establishment social democrats at most. That's not "left". And I don't see much anti-CDU bias in Spiegel - it's just that CDU policy is objectively bad all-too often.
DeleteI didn't mean to say thats what you claimed, you said they aren't under suspicion of being pro CDU like some other media outlets, I agreed and clarified it's because they are biased towards policies and politicians to the left of the CDU. And I would say being pro social democrat makes you leftleaning, these days even the CDU is almost left of center. Which is one of the reasons why they're so bad.
DeleteAs for the actual point of discussion, I agree that corruption or incompetence should come with consequences, but many of the failures with military procurement you mention are not due to malice or corruption but rather constantly shifting priorities because politicians (in uniform and without) can't make up their damned minds.
Though in generell I think in most countries these days corruption, incompetence and even outright stupidity no longer has consequences for anyone in higher leadership. And I have no idea how we could start tackling that issue.
The CDU is not left of centre. A part of it is even cuddling with the 99% Fascists who are just shy of introducing the leader principle to become full-on Fascists.
DeleteLook, there are people in the U.S. who claim that a certain news outlet is "left wing" because it's to the left of themselves. That's not the yardstick. You're not the yardstick. The CDU is neither progressive in any way nor is it siding with employees against shareholders. It is morphing from a change-nothing conservative party into a party of corruption, greed (incl. for power) with predictable gifts to key voter groups of retired people and farmers ASAP after a won election while copy-pasting lobbyist proposals for economic policy if not hiring lobbyists or CEOs into the cabinet right away. That's not left. The far right accuses the CEU of being left on some things the CDU really only does because the constitution and judiciary impose them.
Die Linke is left-wing. SPD and Grüne are left-wing on a few policy items only.
The Tiger and NH90 disasters aren't disasters due to shifting priorities. They were hidden industry subsidies and the industry thanked by assigning only 2nd rate personnel to these projects with the better engineers and project managers working on civilian projects. Same as with A400M. Moreover, the initial decision to develop something own in areas where there's little room for improvement was to blame. We could use AH-64/UH-60 or even UH-1Y and AH-Z or hardly any battlefied helos at all. These programs were sold to the public with lies and deceptions about some air mechanization doctrine that was 100% bullshit and everyone knowing basics about helicopters (fuel consumption, maintenance needs) was able to smell the bullshit.
What makes the CH47 useless?,
ReplyDeleteI genuinely would like to know...
It's unusable at the front once the Russians figure out CEC (cooperative engagement capability) combining two thermal camera-equipped UAVs with the S-350's 9M96 SAM missile (which can lock on after launch a.k.a. LOAL).
DeleteIn the most forward 15 km you can even use infrasound sensors with a LOAL missile (including Iranian 358 a.k.a. SA-67) without any radar or flying sensor to kill it.
It's basically like lancer cavalry in 1914 - completely obsolete for all places where people are trying to shoot each other dead.
I strongly suggest they know this and really only waste 8 billion € to have some toys to play with and to be the shining hero with much attention in the news when sometime in the future there's a major flooding disaster and they might help with helos. Schmidt became MoD and later chancellor after getting much publicity as mayor of Hamburg during a major flood. A German MoD's chances to become chancellor rest largely on a major flood happening.
Re Helicopters:
ReplyDeleteThe disaster relief heavy lift requirement is a clear case for an EU member funded (ie civilian) pool of helicopters and possibly fixed wing water 'bombers'.
The military land based helicopter requirement encompasses limited Medevac (MERT) and CSAR, as well as maybe a few liaison machines.
Airborne/air assault, like attack helicopters, is an emotional attachment people should put behind them.
https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals/7/combat-studies-institute/csi-books/WhenFailureThrives.pdf
Obviously helicopters are also useful for antiship/antisubmarine work.
Re F35s:
Stuffing billions of euros into the pockets of a hostile state is utterly insane, even more so when said hostile entity can press the 'brick switch'. Furthermore, 'Nuclear sharing' is a nonsense.
Helicopters are only good against submarines as long as the submarines don't shoot at them.
DeletePeople keep saying the submarine would give away its position by doing so, but about half of the Western ASW ships and all AAW ships lack a long-ranged ASW weapon to exploit hat. They depend on the helo for ASW delivery.
Likewise, helo for ASuW is mostly about fighting boats or providing targeting data for shipborne ASuW missiles (and very little about EW). Hardly any helicopter ever carried a normal-sized ASuW missile.
The Marte and NSM can possibly be helix launched but I take your point. I'm surprised more ships don't have the Milas torpedo system.
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