A Tale of Stumbling Blocks and Road Bumps: Germany's (non-)Revolution in Military Affairs

Abstract

The changes that have taken place in the last decades in the United States armed forces approach to waging wars have attracted a lot of attention in the strategic community. For some, the use of information technology, unmanned weapon systems, and precisionguided munitions represent a "revolution in military affairs" (RMA). But while the characteristics of change perfectly fit the needs of other countries such as the major European powers, the alleged RMA is not a hot topic among European and especially German defense specialists. Only some aspects of the RMA have found their way into the German armed forces. Efforts to transform the German armed forces are hampered by political controversy and difficult cultural premises.

Liebe und Macht in der deutsch-amerikanischen Sicherheitsbeziehung 2001-2003

“…»Far from rendering bases obsolet, technical change in communications, intelligence, and logistic systems is making them both more flexible and more capable of reacting quickly to novel military challanges.« (Calder 2007: 49) Die USA begannen im Sinne der RMA in den 1970er Jahren eine Transformation ihrer Streitkräfte, die sich durch die Entwicklung moderner Informationstechnologien und vor dem Hintergrund des Endes des Kalten Kriegs zu entfalten begann (Latham 2002: 238, Freedman 2006. Erst ab 2004 findet diese Entwicklung demgegenüber langsam und selektiv Eingang in die deutsche Sicherheitspolitik (Dyson 2011, Franke 2012. Entgegen der US-amerikanischen Investition in moderne Waffentechnologien wurden in Deutschland nach 1989/90 die Militärausgaben nicht nur in absoluten Zahlen gesenkt.…”