Her army Germany It takes an additional 100,000 soldiers of already existing 62,000 to meet its new goals NATOThe body leader says in a confidential document that revealed Reuters on Thursday (11.09.2025).
According to German army leader, NATO’s objectives are aimed at enhancing the preparedness for the growing threat of Russian aggression.
“It is imperative for the army to be sufficiently ready for a war by 2029 and to provide the possibilities for which Germany pledged (in NATO) by 2035,” the army leader wrote. Alfon In a letter dated September 2nd addressed to the Chief of the General Defense Staff, Karsen Broyer.
In his letter, he states that achieving these goals is impossible with the current level of military personnel, which also includes 37,000 non -active soldiers.
Germany has already begun to increase its commitments to its allies in Eastern Europe, mainly with the establishment of a German Brigade in Lithuania, which is expected to have 5,000 troops, and the development of naval patrols in the Baltic Sea to deal with underwater.
Mace calls for an increase of about 45,000 active soldiers by 2029, the year, as the US -led alliance has stated, it expects Russia to be able to carry out a large -scale attack on Western allies.
Russia and North Atlantic Alliance
Moscow systematically denies any intention to wage a war against NATO or its members. In addition to achieving NATO’s objectives agreed at the June summit and the creation of reserves for a war of deterioration such as the one that Russia in Ukraine, Mace predicted that 45,000 active soldiers would need to be needed by 2035.
He also called for about 10,000 additional soldiers to strengthen the territorial defense.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defense in Berlin refused to comment on the document, citing his confidential character.
He said NATO had tailored its skill goals in response to significantly increased threats after Russia’s full -scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022: “According to a first rough estimate, a total of about 460,000 staff (from Germany) will be needed, divided into about 260,000 active troops.”
In June, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced that the country would need up to 60,000 additional active military personnel in all military areas to meet NATO’s new targets, which will reach the power of the German armed forces in the future.
However, they have not yet achieved the target of the 203,000 troops set for 2018 and still have under -staffed staff, with about 20,000 regular staff, according to the Ministry of Defense.