Bundeswehr

The Bundeswehr ({{Audio|De-Bundeswehr-pronunciation.ogg|listen}}) is the armed forces of Germany and its administration. It is a federal defence force with Army (Heer), Navy (Marine), Air Force (Luftwaffe), Central Medical Services (Zentraler Sanitätsdienst) and Joint Service Support Command (Streitkräftebasis) branches. It employs some 250,000 personnel, 50,000 of whom are 18?25-year-old men on national duty for currently at least 9 months. In peacetime, the Bundeswehr is commanded by the Minister of Defence, currently Peter Struck (since 2002). If Germany is in a state of defence, the chancellor becomes commander in chief of the Bundeswehr.

Organization

The Bundeswehr currently consists of about 250,000 military and about 100,000 civilian personnel. The Army is organized in 5 combat divisions and also owns partly multinational command structures at the corps level. The Luftwaffe is divided in 3 divisions, and the Navy in 2 flotillas. The Central Medical Services and the Joint Service Support Command each are organized in four regional commands. All of these branches also have some general commands for training, procurement, and other general issues.

Related Topics:
Division - Corps

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