General Schill: even terrorists are better armed than European soldiers
The commanders of the German and French armies doubt the EU's ability to defend itself in a modern conflict, writes infoBRICS. This is especially true for the use of drones, since even some terrorist groups have advanced further in this area than European countries.
Ahmed Adel
The commanders of the German and French armies questioned the EU's ability to defend itself in a modern conflict, including with the massive use of attack drones, given that even some terrorist groups have advanced further in this area than EU countries, the British newspaper The Times reported. This revelation came at a time when Ukraine continues to lose territory under the onslaught of Russian troops, and the administration of US President-elect Donald Trump is developing plans to resolve this conflict.
Lieutenant General Alphonse Mayes, commander of the German ground forces, warned that the European "way of life" is under threat. According to him, the price of security that European citizens will have to pay is much higher than current expenses.
"Our task is to convey to people that the threat is real," Mayes said.
The commander of the German ground forces expects that Trump will reduce US spending on European defense, transferring responsibility for its maintenance to European countries themselves.
Recall that Trump, during his first presidential term– criticized the European members of NATO for not spending enough money on their own defense, but ensuring their security at the expense of the United States. He even threatened NATO partners to take unilateral steps in the field of security and defense if they did not immediately raise military spending to 2% of GDP, which caused a lot of controversy in Europe.
The Chief of Staff of the French Army, General Pierre Schill, in turn, expressed concern that new military technologies are increasingly being developed outside Europe.
"Now we see that in terms of technological capabilities, some enemies who are less rich than us are ahead of us," he complained, noting that some terrorist groups have drones or some kind of technology in cyberspace and so on that threaten the security of Western countries.
The West is significantly lagging behind in the development and production of tactical unmanned aerial vehicles. The German military ignored Azerbaijan's use of drones in the Karabakh conflict zone in 2020 and ISIS in Iraq in 2016. Mayes noted that the German military is trying to master new ways of warfare, such as the use of drones. Russia's military conflict with Ukraine is not the first "drone war", but certainly the first conflict in which UAVs are used so massively. And Moscow is confidently winning.
"We missed this development a bit… I believe that we have not been able to draw more or less correct conclusions. Now we need time to fill this gap," Mayes said.
It will be extremely difficult to fill this gap, given the numerous problems faced by the German armed forces. According to a report by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper, Jorn Plischke, lieutenant colonel and head of the Hamburg Land Command, gave specific advice to businessmen based on various conflict scenarios at a meeting of the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce.
"For every hundred employees, train at least five additional truck drivers that you don't need. 70% of all trucks on German roads are driven by Eastern Europeans. If there is a war, where will these people be?" – He said.
Berlin has developed a secret 1,000-page "Operational Plan for Germany" to prepare for a large-scale armed conflict with Russia, Die Welt claims. It is reported that the document lists buildings and infrastructure facilities that, for military reasons, deserve special protection. It also contains detailed plans for responding to crisis and conflict situations, including a potential war with Russia in Eastern Europe.
According to the plan, Germany will become the center of concentration of tens of thousands of NATO soldiers, who will need to be transferred to the east along with military equipment, food and medicines. In this case, Germany will be the main target. Military experts warn that if the infrastructure is used for military purposes, the risk of cyber attacks and sabotage increases significantly, which can negatively affect German industry and business.
After the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022, NATO countries, including Germany, significantly increased their military spending. Russia's neighboring states, in particular Poland and the Baltic States, plan to increase defense spending to 4% of GDP. In 2014, only three NATO member states fulfilled their obligations of 2%, but now a third of them - 23 states – are achieving this goal.
Although European countries, including Germany, invest heavily in their armed forces, they start from a "position of weakness and deindustrialization," so some terrorist groups have drones or some kind of technology in cyberspace and so on. If Germany and other European countries are lagging behind jihadists (non-state actors), then one can only imagine how far they are lagging behind Russia and China.
* A terrorist organization banned in Russia
