Defense News.com is reporting...
The German Navy abruptly decommissioned more than half of its submarine fleet on June 1, well ahead of the planned 2016 retirement of the six 500-ton U-206A-class diesel submarines.One word. Wow. Expect more drastic cuts in the Army and Air Force. This is stunning. Follow the link for the entire story.
Type 206 is an old coastal sub (built 1968-1975), rather than a modern multi-purpose sub. Of the 18 completed, 12 have been decommissioned. It's a smart way to free up defense budget when perceived threat is minimum and use it for, say, building more AIP-equipped Type 212.
ReplyDeletenot buying it Rickover. the 206 has been modernized and this is the same as the US saying ok, the Enterprise is an old aircraft carrier....lets retire it. while i think it would be a good idea, and i don't necessarily disagree with the German decision, its still stunning and can't be discounted easily.
ReplyDeletewe are witnessing one of the most important democracies in the world basically stepping back from the world stage. that's what i see when i read the retirement of these subs.
Either way.
ReplyDeleteArmed forces around the world face similar turn-over.
agreed but few are as important as Germany. if the Germans are willing to make these type cuts then they will demand the same from European countries that are financial basket cases...Italy, Spain, Greece...it will pressure the UK and France to follow case...
ReplyDeletethis simple move by the Germans will ripple and the upshot of it is this. the EU, which was taking baby steps toward being militarily relevant is moving backwards instead.
Two 212 (S185 & S186) are due to be commissioned in 2011 & 2012.
ReplyDeleteWhy would they demand the same action from other European countries? Germany is EU's economic powerhouse; not so with its military.
because they are the economic powerhouse. German citizens are already upset over having to foot the bill for what they see as excesses in other EU countries and are demanding austerity packages.
ReplyDeletethe politicians in those countries will have no choice but to go after the defense budgets. social spending cuts gave us riots in Greece...Italy, Spain and the other EU countries that are in economic trouble paid attention.
defense cuts....savage defense cuts are coming.
The remaining U206s were due to be decommissioned in the next years anyway and the maintenance costs were soaring up. By the way, the navy also wants to use the freed manpower to multi-crew the new U212.
ReplyDeleteGermany won't demand any defense cuts, all the other states are our best customers.
I thought Germany was running surpluses.
ReplyDeleteI guess its not too surprising. Didnt they retire a few thousand tanks in the late 90s/early 2000s? I think they are downj to 300-400 tanks if that.
ReplyDeleteLikewise, Luftwaffe fighter fleet is to be capped at 265, from 426.
ReplyDelete