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24 Jul 20. Trump’s troop drawdown from Germany will take ‘years,’ says Inhofe. U.S. President Donald Trump’s goal to withdraw 10,000 American troops from Germany will take years to execute, according to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe, R-Okla.
Inhofe’s disclosure, after he was briefed by Pentagon officials on the plans, suggests there wouldn’t be the hasty pullout critics feared, but a more drawn-out approach. The troops are potentially a quick-reaction force against Russia and can be deployed rapidly to the Middle East and Africa.
“It is clear to me that this concept will take months to plan, and years to execute,” Inhofe said in a statement after the briefing Wednesday. “Rigorous planning and deliberate implementation of this concept is the best way to give our military families a measure of certainty and ensure they receive the care and support they deserve.”
Trump administration officials have been planning for the last two months to begin a major drawdown of troops from the NATO ally, to include shifting at least 9,500 personnel to other bases overseas or in the United States, and to cap the total number of U.S. troops stationed there at 25,000. The total is almost 35,000 now, and the troop cap is 50,000.
Officials have suggested the move is designed to reduce the U.S. footprint in a single overseas allied country and instead spread out American response forces ― some farther east ― for more strategic flexibility. Critics say the move would undermine America’s commitment to the NATO alliance and risk a key hub for training and staging forces.
Trump initiated the move in part because he believes Germany isn’t spending enough on national defense, and that European countries are taking advantage of American military might.
Lowering the troop cap as the administration plans would significantly undermine the capacity to rotate in U.S. forces for reinforcement or training, according to former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder, now president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. The decision, overall, appeared to be driven by “presidential pique,” he said, and not an assessment of how to achieve America’s national security goals.
“Where was the interagency process that led to this decision,” Daalder said. “It’s the way this administration operates, which is they say let’s do this, and then they figure it out.”
A staunch ally of the president, Inhofe appeared to part with other hawkish Republicans in announcing his support for the president’s “sound” approach to “realigning U.S. military posture in Europe.” Inhofe has said he supports a “lily-pad approach to basing” and mentioned Ukraine, Bulgaria and Romania as other locations to consider.
But Inhofe also hedged by emphasizing military families, whose lives would be upended by a rapid withdrawal.
“We need to maintain a strong presence in Europe to deter Russia, sustain a flexible platform for projecting power into other theaters like Africa and minimize the impact of these changes on military families who already sacrifice so much for our country,” he said.
Still, the matter is expected to be a friction point in talks between the Senate and the House to reconcile their annual defense policy bills. The House-passed version included bipartisan language rebuking the withdrawal plans, while the Senate did not take up a similar, bipartisan amendment led by Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah.
Both Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill have expressed concerns about the plan. Twenty-two GOP members of the House Armed Services Committee sent a letter to Trump last month stating that the current troop levels in Germany have “helped make America safer.”
The Senate-approved bill included a requirement that the Pentagon report to Congress on allies’ annual military spending, based on an amendment from Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah. The annual report would have to cover the common defense contributions of NATO countries and other allies, including Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Australia, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.
The House and Senate bills also express a sense that Congress wants the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to “model NATO allies in terms of burden sharing,” and the two pieces of legislation encourage the U.S. to pursue a coordinated plan for those countries’ continued security.
The House-passed State Department spending bill includes $11.4 million each in foreign military financing for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, with $115 million for Ukraine and $35 million for Georgia.
Meanwhile, leaders in Berlin seem to have made peace with the idea that the White House may actually go ahead with a “repositioning” of U.S. troops out of Germany, as U.S. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy has called the move.
Officials in Europe initially shrugged off the drawdown rhetoric, first reported in the United States in early June, simply because the Trump administration had left them completely in the dark. The fear now is that a reconfiguration of the U.S. footprint on the continent could effectively lead to a net decrease of troops, whether in Germany or elsewhere.
“The decisive question for Europe and NATO is whether these troops will be removed from Europe or not,” German Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said during a trip to Bratislava, Slovakia, at a July 17 event organized by the Globsec think tank.
“We’re not exactly happy when our American friends leave us,” she said. “That’s the one thing. But it won’t lead to German security collapsing.”
She stressed that Germany and Poland, which has been mentioned as a potential host for the forces slated to leave Germany, should be speaking with one voice as Pentagon leaders finalize their plans. Polish leaders have made clear that any plus-ups of Americans in their country would be undesirable if the price is a drawdown in another part of the alliance, she added.
“Therefore, the issue is not a drag on our bilateral relations,” Kramp-Karrenbauer said of the Berlin-Warsaw rapport. (Source: Defense News)
24 Jul 20. Lockheed Martin homes in on Europe for F-35 growth. In attempting to reach a F-35 Lightning II programme of record amounting to 3,500 aircraft, Lockheed Martin remains firmly focused on maximising business opportunities in Europe.
New orders could arrive from Finland, Switzerland, Greece and the Czech Republic but these depend on competitions and discussions favouring the fifth-generation stealth jet.
‘Now that we have successfully reduced the price per unit of the aircraft and we’re working similarly on [reducing] sustainment costs, they are going to equal or be less than costs of legacy jets, so when you think about the value of the F-35 it is simply unmatched,’ Erin Moseley, VP strategy and BD at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics said during a webinar in place of the Farnborough Airshow.
An F-35A took part in Finland’s HX flight test demonstrations in February as Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, Boeing, Dassault and Saab all await week-long negotiations (one per competitor) with the Finnish MoD, before industry are requested to submit best and final offers for the €10 billion ($11.2 billion) acquisition aimed at replacing a fleet of retiring F/A-18C/D Hornets.
A winning contractor is scheduled to be announced in 2021.
In May, an internal report from Switzerland’s Military Intelligence Service reportedly found that F-35B and F-35C variants suffer from serious afterburner problems causing excessive heat to rise from the rear of the airframe and also cause blisters on the radar absorbent coating of the jet. The report also raised the possibility of the F-35A facing similar issues, according to Swiss French-language newspaper La Liberté.
The F-35A is one of four aircraft in the running for Switzerland’s CHF6bn ($6.5bn) Air2030 acquisition, which is intended to source a replacement for Northrop F-5E/F Tiger II and Boeing F/A-18 Hornet fleets should a national referendum, due to be held on 27 September, decide to proceed with the programme.
Competition stipulations also require the winning Air2030 manufacturer to provide Swiss industry with 60% of supplier contracts.
Switzerland has extended a RfP deadline for industry until November 2020 to allow manufacturers additional time to prefer offers and overcome COVID-19 issues.
Bern has already evaluated the F-35A, Eurofighter Typhoon, F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and Rafale following flight trials held between April and June 2019.
Elsewhere, Greece has not yet signed up for the F-35 despite various reports that 30 platforms were under consideration in April 2019 as a replacement for aging F-16C/D Block 30 aircraft.
More recently, Nikos Panagiotopoulos, Greek defence minister, said that 24 F-35s will be acquired in a deal worth $3 billion, but no FMS has been approved and a firm contract has not been signed.
Lockheed Martin is prepared to offer the F-35A or F-16 to the Czech Republic to replace 14 Saab JAS-39C/D Gripen fighters, according to local media, but it remains to be seen when an order will be made.
Outside Europe, Lockheed Martin has until the end of July to offer the F-35 in answer to the RfP for Canada’s Future Fighter Capability Project, while the Defense Security Cooperation Agency approved a request from Japan to buy 105 of the jets on 9 July – a deal worth $23.11bn and the second largest FMS request in history.
Aside from future order prospects, the UK MoD has been informed by Lockheed Martin that a two- to three-month delivery delay will force the late arrival of new F-35B aircraft.
At a wider programme and productional level, the manufacturer has acknowledged that an annual target of 141 deliveries could slip by as many as 24 units due to COVID-19 issues and suppliers being unable to maintain timely deliveries.
Although the F-35 programme is yet to reach full rate production, the company expects to shortly return to the level it reached before COVID-19 caused a slowdown.
‘We’re working very closely with our customers to limit impacts to their services, and align deliveries to their mission priorities,’ Darren Sekiguchi, VP F-35 production at Lockheed Martin said.
‘We designed the F-35 supply chain with a broad industrial base to provide flexibility and to lessen impact should any one source experience issues, and this approach continues to be beneficial as we manage in the current situation.’ (Source: Shephard)
23 Jul 20. Report urges MOD to spend more on personnel than ‘shiny new’ kit. A new report on retention in the UK Armed Forces has advised the Prime Minister to spend more on personnel and their families to improve retention in the Armed Forces, even if it comes at the cost of new equipment.
The report written by Conservative MP and Defence Select Committee member Mark Francois concludes: “Defence will have to take some difficult balance of investment decisions in order to spend more money on Armed Forces personnel and their families and less on shiny equipment – because if not, within several years, there are unlikely to be sufficiently qualified and experienced personnel in Defence to operate the highly expensive kit in the first place.”
The report titled “Stick or Twist”, that has been seen by the Prime Minister was written using information from the National Audit Office (NAO), Public Accounts Committee (PAC), and interviews with the four service chiefs. The report also includes over 200 submissions from Armed Forces personnel and their families.
The report from Francois was originally commissioned by then Prime Minister Theresa May in December 2018.
The Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) Workforce Requirement deficit currently stands at 8.4% (12,170), up from 6.6% (9,650) the year before. In 2020 the services saw a net inflow of 600 personnel, due to an increase in recruitment to the British Army.
The year before, the services recruited 11,092 compared to 14,698 who left the forces. Commenting on retention, the report recommends: “Senior leaders in the Ministry of Defence must fully appreciate the pressure on Retention caused by a relatively buoyant economy and must not rely on a potential economic downturn to rescue them from this challenge.”
In conducting the report, Francois’ said it also conducted 11 ‘Ground truth’ visits to service establishments to ask why personnel left the armed forces and what could be done to keep them in the forces.
Commenting on the report’s finding’s Francois said: “My team and I have worked for over a year to provide proposals to Improve Retention. Some of these such as extending the Forces Help To Buy scheme and expanding Childcare for service personnel are thankfully being actioned.”
On childcare, the report found ‘a clear and unacceptable dichotomy’ between Service personnel and staff in the MOD’s main building. The report noted that while Junior Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs) were having to pay up to £1300 a month in childcare, Civil Servants including senior ranks had access to ‘the best-defended creche in the United Kingdom’ at a subsidised cost of £300-400 a month.
The report called the balance of Childcare costs for Civil Servants and Service personnel ‘morally at least highly questionable’.
Francois added that the report included a number of further proposals the MOD could take action on, including reforming the armed forces approach to housing.
“We have made further proposals, including taking Services Families Accommodation (SFA) away from the failing Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) and vesting it in a dedicated Forces Housing Association (FHA) instead.” Francois said, adding:
“This new entity would be optimised to provide decent, affordable accommodation for service personnel and their families and would be run in their interests, not that of the MOD bureaucracy.”
The report includes an anonymous comment from a member of the Royal Air Force (RAF) saying: “We had an Air Vice Marshall visit us a few months ago to give us all a pep talk about how what we were doing was extremely important to Defence and how the nation greatly valued our contribution to National Security.
“While I was standing at the back, I couldn’t help thinking, well Sir, if that’s true, why are my kids showering in cold water – yet again?”
Last week, the MOD announced it was providing an extra £200m of Government funding to carry out ‘vital’ work to personnel’s accommodation. With the new funding, over 5,000 personnel ‘will have homes modernised with new kitchens, bathrooms and furnishings including re-roofing to reduce the risk of mould and damp.’
The funding is also set to make the defence estate more environmentally friendly providing new doors, windows, and boilers, as well as funding new play areas and road resurfacing.
The MOD, this week, also announced a 2% pay rise for the Armed Forces which the MOD said was awarded ‘in recognition of the vital work they do every day protecting the country.’ The pay rise will be awarded in September pay packets and be backdated to April.
Despite progress on Help to Buy and Childcare, Francois added: “However, there is always more to do, in order to persuade personnel to ‘Stick’ rather than to ‘Twist’, and dare I say it, remain in HM [Her Majesty’s] Armed Forces.” (Source: army-technology.com)
22 Jul 20. Armenia Displays $150m Worth Azeri Drones Shot Down in Border Clashes. Armenia’s Defense Ministry displayed Israeli-made military drones of Azerbaijan shot down by its anti-aircraft units in last week’s heavy fighting on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
The Armenian military have destroyed or intercepted 13 such unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) during the clashes that broke out on July 12 and largely stopped five days later. It says that 10 of them were attack drones that were about to strike Armenian military and civilian targets in the northern Tavush province bordering the Tovuz district in western Azerbaijan.
Fragments of some of those UAVs were put on display at the Defense Ministry’s Military Aviation Institute in Yerevan. Ministry officials also showed journalists a largely intact ThunderB surveillance drone manufactured by Israel’s BlueBird Aero Systems company.
The Armenian military publicized on July 14 what it described as amateur footage of a sophisticated Hermes 900 drone of the Azerbaijani armed forces destroyed by an Armenian surface-to-air rocket. Hermes 900 is produced by another Israeli company, Elbit Systems, and used for reconnaissance and communication relay. The Azerbaijani military has denied losing such aircraft.
An Armenian defense news website posted at the weekend a photograph of two Armenian soldiers holding a SkyStriker “suicide” drone also manufactured by Elbit Systems. Israeli media revealed the sale of such UAVs to Azerbaijan in January 2019.
The Azerbaijani army used other types of Israeli-made “suicide” drones during the April 2016 hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh that nearly escalated into an all-out Armenian-Azerbaijani war.
Garik Movsisyan, a senior officer of Armenia’s air-defense forces, said that a total of about 40 Azerbaijani UAVs have been brought down since 2016. He claimed that the Israeli drones lost by Azerbaijan in the Tavush-Tovuz fighting were worth at least $150m.
Armenia has long expressed concern over Israel’s large-scale arms deals with Azerbaijan which have totaled at least $2bn since 2012. The Foreign Ministry in Yerevan reiterated those concerns following the latest flare-up along the border between the two South Caucasus states.
The Armenian military says that during last week’s hostilities it used for the first time attack drones designed and produced by Armenian companies. It says that they destroyed at least one Azerbaijani tank. (Source: UAS VISION/Radio Free Europe; Massispost)
22 Jul 20. Other nations interested in UK’s Tempest fighter jet project – Leonardo CEO. The chief executive of Italian defence firm Leonardo (LDOF.MI) said that other nations are interested in joining Tempest, the British-led project to build a new fighter jet with Italy and Sweden.
“Time remains for other partners to join Tempest. You have seen other nations express an interest and we are extremely positive for the future,” Leonardo CEO Alessandro Profumo told a webcast at Virtual Farnborough on Wednesday, an online event to replace the cancelled airshow.
Japan has been in the past been mentioned as a possible future partner on the Tempest project. Britain launched the project in 2018 and has since been joined by Italy and Sweden in a pact to co-operate on fighter jets and get Tempest off the ground as it vies with a rival Franco-German project to win a share of future military budgets.
BAE Systems (BAES.L), Britain’s biggest defence company, UK engine maker Rolls-Royce (RR.L), European missile maker MBDA and Swedish defence company Saab (SAABb.ST) are amongst the companies working to develop Tempest, meant eventually to replace the Eurofighter Typhoon from 2040.
Saab said on Monday it would invest £50m ($63m) in a new future combat air systems centre in Britain to deepen its relationship with the UK.
Seven other UK companies including Bombardier Belfast, Collins Aerospace in the UK, GE Aviation in the UK and GKN Aerospace also said they would become involved in the project.
BAE CEO Charles Woodburn said on Wednesday that the partners had made a “significant step forward” in the project to deliver a new fighter jet that is flexible, upgradeable and on budget. (Source: Reuters)
21 Jul 20. “Confusing and reeks of politics”: Cybersecurity community reacts to Russia report. The cybersecurity community has reacted with criticism and concern to the Russia report, which was finally published today after a nine-month delay. The heavily redacted report highlighted that the UK was a target for disinformation by Russia, and that “Russian influence in the UK in the new normal”. It also drew attention to failures to tackle the issue, with no one governmental organisation taking responsibility.
For some, the report has prompted considerable concern due to its level of redactions and lack of clarity on issues, such as the unanswered question of whether there was Russian interference in the Brexit referendum.
“Not only do the findings in the report smack of a lack of transparency, but it’s also confusing to the public and reeks of politics,” said Sam Curry, chief security office at Cybereason.
Others reacted with dismay at the lack of coordination between government departments on the issue.
“Cyber is a ‘complex landscape’ in the UK with numerous agencies involved in cyber defence – but it is not immediately clear how they all work together and complement one another, according to the report,” said Miles Tappin, vice president, EMEA of ThreatConnect.
“The lack of co-ordination and collaboration by organisations across the intelligence community is a grave concern and something that nation-state actors look to exploit.”
Russia report: Cybersecurity implications for businesses
While the Russia report focused on the behaviour and impact on the UK government, many members of the cybersecurity industry were quick to highlight potential issues for business, particularly given that organisations have been severely impacted by historic nation state-backed cyber campaigns, such as WannaCry.
“In light of the information uncovered by the Russia report, UK enterprises and governmental agencies should ensure that their existing security practices are enforced to the letter,” advised Michael Barragry, operations lead at Edgescan.
“State-sponsored cyberattacks are typically very well-resourced and can be planned in advance for months before they are executed.”
Barragry also said it was also possible that “Russian actors were already inside the network of several public and private organisations”, something that Matt Walmsley, EMEA Director at Vectra, agrees with.
“The report’s comments about observed Russian ‘pre-positioning’ activity highlights the need for detecting hidden threat behaviours inside enterprise IT networks before cyberattacks have a chance to spy, spread and steal,” said Walmsley.
“It’s a phenomenon we’ve seen in our own analysis from inside operators of critical national infrastructure. For example, attackers have tested and mapped-out attacks against energy and utilities networks for years.
“These slow, quiet reconnaissance missions involve observing operator behaviours and building a unique plan of attack. The attack that shut down Ukraine’s power grid in 2015 was reportedly planned many months in advance by skilled and sophisticated cybercriminals.”
Cybersecurity training remains vital
For companies that want to protect themselves, the advice is to be aware of the risk posed by poorly trained employees.
“Cybersecurity fears are evidently increasing, but the attack vectors used remain the same, with similar entry,” said Jake Moore, cybersecurity specialist at ESET.
“As we have seen with Twitter recently, social engineering is a widely used technique and can leave huge destruction in its wake. Hacking the human is still a very effective tool, and phishing email campaigns remain relentless. Constant training must be therefore be in place with an increased level of vigilance.
“Relying on security software alone will never protect you completely. The rest has to be security compliance carried out by the individual.”
(Source: naval-technology.com)
22 Jul 20. Royal Navy monitors surfaced Russian submarine in waters around the UK. Royal Navy warships have shadowed a surfaced Russian submarine as it passed through the waters close to the UK.
HMS Tyne and HMS Mersey watched every movement of the Kilo-class submarine, Krasnodar, after picking up monitoring duties from French light frigate FS Enseigne de vaisseau Jacoubet off the coast of Ushant Island in Brittany on Sunday.
The attack submarine – built in the Soviet Union for the Soviet Navy in the 1980s – has been conducting a surfaced transit from the Eastern Mediterranean, with its ocean-going tug Sergey Balk in support.
Portsmouth-based Tyne, an Offshore Patrol Vessel, picked up the Krasnodar at the south-western end of the English Channel after the French Navy tracked its journey through the Bay of Biscay.
After sailing the Channel, sister ship HMS Mersey took over duties as the Russians headed through the Strait of Dover and into the North Sea on Monday.
Lieutenant Justin Shirtcliff, HMS Tyne’s Operations Officer, said: “Tyne responded in a coordinated effort with allies to shadow the Russian submarine and her escort while transiting the English Channel.
“This routine undertaking is an enduring task for the Royal Navy, in which Tyne and her sister ships of the Royal Navy’s Overseas Patrol Squadron play a key role.”
Lieutenant Commander Will Edwards-Bannon, HMS Mersey’s Commanding Officer, said: “It has been impressive to see, first-hand, the seamless coordination between allied ships and aircraft from various nations involved in this operation.
“I am very proud of the disciplined way in which my ship’s company has responded to the challenge of maintaining our readiness for operations through the challenges of Covid-19 which, along with the support we receive from our families, has enabled Mersey to once again successfully play our part in protecting our nation’s interests.” (Source: Royal Navy)
22 Jul 20. Future Combat Air Continues to Drive Economic Advance Across the UK. Seven companies representing the breadth of innovation across the UK have signed agreements to progress opportunities to work on future combat air concepts and underpinning technologies across Team Tempest.
The companies involved include Bombardier Belfast, Collins Aerospace in the UK, GE Aviation UK, GKN Aerospace, Martin-Baker, QinetiQ, and Thales UK. This is the first phase of organisations to sign such agreements, with more to be announced.
The announcement represents a significant step forward by bringing additional expertise into the Team Tempest project. Team Tempest is a collaboration between BAE Systems, Leonardo UK, MBDA UK, Rolls-Royce and the UK Ministry of Defence, working together to develop game-changing technologies at pace and in an affordable manner.
Dave Holmes, Manufacturing Director for BAE Systems’ Air sector, said: “We are delighted to have signed the first phase of these new agreements, which are transforming our traditional relationships with partners. We are seeking opportunities to widen the Team Tempest project and bring in the very best of UK capability and expertise, from both inside and outside of defence. They will work alongside us as we seek to develop the generation-defining combat air capability which will help safeguard the security of our nation and our allies to the end of this century.
“In addition, by developing the wider industry team, we will help contribute to the retention, growth and investment in a wider world-class UK skills base. Collaborations, with some of the brightest and best across the country, show that Tempest is becoming a truly national endeavour and we are delivering on our promise to take new approaches to drive significant pace and efficiency into the programme.”
The companies will now seek opportunities to join forces on established projects and developments with the core Team Tempest partners, bringing the best of British expertise and ingenuity to optimally designing, manufacturing and operating combat air systems through life.
Jeremy Quin, the UK Minister for Defence Procurement, said: “Today’s announcement demonstrates further progress in delivering the UK’s combat air strategy, with more companies collaborating on the future of the UK’s Air Defence. This is a highly innovative project based around cutting-edge technology and drawing on a skills base where the UK excels. I am delighted that the success and strengths of Team Tempest are being enhanced through drawing on UK expertise; working with industrial partners and highly capable international team we are configured for future success.”
Collectively, the companies will look to support more than 60 technology demonstration activities which are currently underway, which will demonstrate and de-risk world-leading processes and technology in half the time and at significantly lower cost than previous complex combat air programmes. (Source: ASD Network)
19 Jul 20. Germany violated arms export regulations for decades, study says. Germany has authorized and exported weapons and military equipment to be used in countries with human rights violations and ravaged by war. Wars, including the Yemen conflict, have been “fought with German weapons.”
Germany has systematically violated arms export regulations for 30 years, researchers announced on Sunday.
“Germany licenses and exports weapons of war and armaments to countries affected by war and crisis, to countries with human rights violations and to regions of tension,” the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF) said.
A PRIF study examined the consistency of German arms export policy since 1990 and whether they adhered to the European Union’s eight-point criteria when approving arms exports.
The EU criteria includes “respect for human rights and international humanitarian law by the country of final destination” and “maintenance of peace, security and stability in a region.”
Germany has “repeatedly violated these criteria,” the study said.
“German weapons are systematically appearing in war zones and in the hands of dictators,” Greenpeace disarmament expert Alexander Lurz told French news agency AFP. “We urgently need a strict arms export law that prohibits exports to developing countries and puts an end to this deliberate, systematic undermining of export guidelines.”
Calls for legally binding regulations
According to the study, there have been “wars fought with German weapons and serious human rights violations.”
One example researchers cited was the September 2014 student protests in Mexico. Police violently attacked and shot students with G-36 assault rifles from the German company Heckler & Koch. The study also said German-made weapons are being used in the war in Yemen.
Read more: Germany sells arms to members of Saudi-led Yemen coalition
PRIF also said old stocks of the Bundeswehr armed forces and the former East Germany’s National People’s Army were partly transferred to countries that are neither EU nor NATO members.
“The general ban from 1971 on supplying weapons of war from Germany to non-NATO states has given way to a complicated set of rules consisting of laws, political principles and various procedures, which are supplemented by further regulations at European and international level,” the study stated.
Since 1990, weapon exports to developing countries have been approved on a large scale.
“Such cases should actually be an exception, but with licensing levels of around 60%, they have become the rule in some years,” the study said.
The authors called for a legally binding and standardized arms export control law, “which must then also be legally enforced so that German arms exports do not end up in problematic developing countries.”
PRIF — one of Germany’s largest peace research institutes — aims to analyze the causes of violent conflict around the world and share recommendations with policymakers.
Opposition Left party foreign policy expert Sevim Dagdelen called for a general ban on arms exports.
“The whole control system is sick, no matter what coalition the government puts up,” she told AFP.
Within the German federal government, the Ministry of Economics is the lead agency for arms exports.
Declining to elaborate further on the study, a ministry spokesman told AFP: “The federal government pursues a restrictive and responsible arms export policy.” (Source: glstrade.com/https://www.dw.com/)
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