Changes will see a consolidation of key departments and a reshuffling of leadership roles.  

Germany has announced sweeping structural changes to the Bundeswehr in a bid to strengthen its leadership and speed up procurement processes, a 1 August announcement from the Federal Ministry of Defence (BMVg) has revealed.  

These structural changes will, in part, involve further integrating the areas of “armaments, innovation, and cyber”, the BMVg said. 

The fields of research, planning, cyber, and technology will be moved into the ‘Innovation and Cyber Department’ which, in turn, will be more closely integrated into the Bundeswehr’s ‘Defence Department’, all with the aim of speeding up procurement. 

Responsibility for both these departments will fall to Jens Plötner, the newly appointed State Secretary for Armaments, who will manage the modernisation and procurement of military equipment for the Bundeswehr.  

“The goal is to procure the equipment urgently needed by the Bundeswehr more quickly and to strengthen the Bundeswehr's innovative capabilities”, the BMVg said. 

Other leadership changes will see Jan Stöß appointed as the Bundeswehr’s State Secretary for Administration, with responsibility over legal amendments and administrative justice, among other things. 

Across the Bundeswehr, structural changes will consolidate 10 departments into eight, reduce the amount of permanent state secretaries from three to two, and provide the Inspector General of the Bundeswehr with a second deputy.   

“This new structure is intended to strengthen the leadership of the armed forces. At the same time, it should make it easier to provide the holder of command and control authority with a comprehensive situational overview at all times”, the BMVg said.  

These changes will take place gradually over the remainder of the year, with management changes taking place at the end of August and departmental restructures set to be completed by the start of October. 

“The BMVg and the Bundeswehr are facing significant, even enormous, challenges. We must tackle a multitude of new tasks, which also require further adjustments to the top-level structure and command organisation in the BMVg make it necessary”, Germany’s Federal Minister of Defence, Boris Pistorius, said.