The German military has enough ammunition to last just one-two days in the event of a major conflict, and it will cost at least €20 billion to stock up, lawmakers, defense industry representatives, and military experts have told Business Insider Deutschland.
Existing stocks are also a far cry from the 30 days’ worth of ammunition required under NATO standards.
“Of course, this situation will not improve if ammunition is removed from Bundeswehr stocks and corresponding orders [to replace it] are not made at the same time,” Hans Christoph Atzpodien, director of the German Security and Defense Industry Association, said.
Eva Hogl, parliamentary commissioner for the German Armed Forces in the Bundestag, said that in addition to the €20 billion in spending needed for ammunition procurement alone, the country lacks warehousing capacity that could store the new bullets, bombs, missiles, and explosives.
Germany has sent or pledged to send more than a billion euros in weapons assistance to Ukraine, including 30 Gepard anti-aircraft guns, 50+ US-made M113 tracked armored personnel carriers, Stinger and Strela-2 MANPADs, Panzerfaust 3 and Matador rocket propelled grenades, anti-tank mines, anti-drone weapons, radars, unmanned aerial vehicles, and engineering equipment.
The ammunition sent includes over 63,000 35 mm rounds for the Gepards, 13,500+ 155 mm artillery rounds for the PzH 2000s (including guided munitions), 30,000 rounds of grenade launcher ammo, 100,000 hand grenades, and 14 million rounds of small arms ammunition of various calibers.
Anonymous industry representatives told the outlet that they were becoming “irritated” by the current procurement system, and that while government offers were initially made to increase output by ordering military factories to work round-the-clock, no significant orders have been made amid hesitation from the Defense Ministry and the Bundeswehr’s procurement office.
Delays have also led to grumblings from within Chancellor Scholz’s coalition government, with one lawmaker telling Business Insider that Berlin “must finally pick up the pace” on the issue.
The government’s current military spending plans include €1 billion for ammunition, and calls have been made in parliament to increase the budget by another €500 million. However, these sums are a far cry from the €20-30 billion military experts said will be required by 2030.
The German chancellor has taken flak from Kiev and Washington in recent months after putting his foot down on sending Leopard battle tanks and Mardar infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine. Last month, after German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht announced that Berlin had “reached the limit” of arms aid, Welt reported that Scholz’s political “reliability” was being questioned in Washington. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said Kiev was “disappointed” by Berlin’s decision on the Leopards and Marders, saying the weapons were needed to “liberate people and save them from genocide” and that there wasn’t “a single rational argument on why these weapons cannot be supplied, only abstract fears and excuses.”
Russia has repeatedly urged the West to halt its weapons deliveries to Ukraine, warning of the threat they pose in escalating the crisis, and the danger that some of the arms might end up on the international weapons black market.