As reported by local outlet Bild, the German Army is currently facing severe available issues with its helicopter fleet.
The German Army only had 8 available Tiger attack helicopters (out of a total of 53) and only 12 ready-to-use NH90 transport helicopters (out of 99) available in November, according to local media.
“The catastrophic operational readiness of the tiger now also affects the training of the pilots. This state of affairs is irresponsible,” Tobias Lindner told BILD here.
Availability issues have been impacting the operational effectiveness of the German military for some time now. Last year, we reported that less than a third of German military assets were operational.
The 2018 ‘Report on the Operational Readiness of the Bundeswehr Primary Weapons Systems’ was presented to Germany’s lower house of parliament with the following headline availability figures.
- Typhoon jets: 39 of 128
- Tornado jets: 26 of 93
- CH-53 transport helicopters: 16 of 72
- NH-90 transport helicopters: 13 of 58
- Tiger attack helicopters: 12 of 62
- A400M transport aircraft: 3 of 15
- Leopard 2 tanks: 105 of 224
- Frigates: 5 of 13
- Submarines: 0 out of 6
According to local media, the German Defence Ministry said that a higher number of training missions and deployments since Russia’s intervention in eastern Ukraine in 2014 had caused existing equipment to wear down quicker than it had previously.
“It’s a real disaster for the Navy, it’s the first time in history that there will not be any submarine operating for months,” warned the president of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the German Parliament, Hans-Peter Bartels, in an interview published at the time.
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