FLUG REVUE November 2002: Perspectives of the Luftwaffe

Lt.Gen. Gerhard Back on the outlook for the Luftwaffe

"NEW CAPABILITIES CAN ONLY BE ACHIEVED WITH NEW EQUIPMENT”

The Luftwaffe is faced with the challenge of implementing radical reform and making itself fit for new tasks. We spoke to the Chief of the Air Staff, Lt. Gen. Gerhard Back, about the challenges before it.

FLUG REVUE: The Luftwaffe is undergoing a radical shake-up. What are the objectives behind these changes?

Lt. Gen. Back: The Luftwaffe is aligning itself to a new capability profile, the changes have to be sustainable and geared towards the long-term.

The new profile reflects the increased importance of "air power” within the present and future mission spectrum of the Bundeswehr. Given the wide range of challenges to be met, success depends critically on the capabilities of a modern air force. It should be clear here that air forces cannot necessarily ensure success or sustain it on their own. Equally it is clear that successful achievement of policy objectives in the future will be impossible without an air force that possesses a modern capability profile. This has been conclusively demonstrated by the operational experience of recent years.

FLUG REVUE: What specifically does the Luftwaffe need to be able to do in the future?

Lt. Gen. Back: The present, conceptually driven reform programme envisages the Luftwaffe's role very much as part of a combined services approach. The reforms are tailored to the new mission profile. For the Luftwaffe this means, for example, that it must be in a position at any time and from a standing position to contribute to international conflict prevention and crisis management missions. This applies outside of the NATO area and in different coalitions as well.

In addition, and independently of ongoing operations, it remains an ongoing responsibility of the Luftwaffe to protect the integrity and security of German airspace. This responsibility in particular has gained a new significance for Germany too since 11 September 2001.

In a word, the Luftwaffe is concentrating more strongly than before on its assigned military tasks. Support functions will be provided by the new Joint Support Service and the Bundeswehr's completely revamped Central Medical Service.

We plan to increase the operational capability of the Luftwaffe through less labour-intensive, modern weapons systems in sustainable and increasingly robust mission structures and with a leaner command and control organisation.

FLUG REVUE: What is the situation with regard to the introduction of the necessary new weapon systems? After all, funding is tight.

Lt. Gen. Back: Without a doubt, implementation of the procurement plan is critical, if not the sine qua non for achieving the new capability profile. Every change to this procurement plan – either as regards scope or timescales – puts question-marks over the funding of the new structures and, above all, impedes achievement of the new capability profile.

After all, this capability profile assumes that our operational effectiveness will be improved with accurate, stand-off, all-weather resources. We also need to improve or develop our air transport capabilities, both tactical and strategic, to include an air refuelling capability using our own tanker aircraft and an armed air rescue service.

Then we also need air-mobile and ground-based air defence systems capable of seeing off any threat from the air, both in the operational area, where protection of our deployed forces is the objective, and in Germany, where the requirement is to protect the national air space. Guaranteeing our command and control capability and enhancing our airborne reconnaissance capability – both over wide areas and also over the operational area, and using both manned and unmanned platforms – are basic requirements for operational success and act as force multipliers.

FLUG REVUE: But you are tightly constrained by existing procurement contracts. What are the Luftwaffe's priorities for future procurement?

Lt. Gen. Back: First of all I would like to stress that any measures which improve the protection of our service personnel in the battlefield are particularly important to me. What is important is to concentrate on what is absolutely necessary – no more, but also no less – in order to accomplish our assigned functions.

The critical yardstick for prioritising between procurement projects is therefore the contribution that a given project makes to eliminating existing equipment deficits, bearing in mind the capability profiles defined for all three services, which run across all the planning categories. It is no secret that we are subject to constraints as regards financing, timescales and support of the defence industry.

In principle, procurement projects which offer capabilities that we do not yet have and which benefit combined services operations merit particular attention. Here I am thinking in particular of the strategic mobility that the Future Transport Aircraft will create for the first time or of all-weather imaging reconnaissance capabilities, for example, with UAVs, which will feed their data into a joint reconnaissance unit.

But I am also thinking of state-of-the-art weapon systems for highly accurate, all-weather action against ground and airborne targets that can help the armed forces to effectively fulfil missions from anywhere in the conceivable mission spectrum.

That modern, mobile command and control systems are a basic precondition to the deployment of armed forces is self-evident. For this reason, procurement projects aimed at modernising our command and control capability are a particular priority. Precisely in this technologically fast-moving area, there is a particular catch-up requirement. Only with the new systems will it be feasible to achieve the operating cost reductions and the directly associated structural changes that we are aiming for.

FLUG REVUE: The Luftwaffe depends on a strong defence industry and has introduced new co-operative models. How satisfied are you with the suppliers, bearing in mind, for example, the lack of spare parts and delays in delivery of the Eurofighter?

Lt. Gen. Back: This question touches on an extremely complex subject. For decades we have maintained an intensive and constructive partnership with industry. We are now developing this partnership further and are adopting new, innovative approaches.

The co-operative models that we are setting up for the Eurofighter and are working on for the NH90 and Tiger, are aimed at retaining our core capabilities in this area. This affects our expertise and judgement as well as our capability to provide mobile support on operations outside Germany, using qualified military personnel.

Under the framework agreement for "Innovation, investment and efficiency in the Bundeswehr” we have successfully tried out and established new procedures aimed at accelerating parts exchanges and repairs on joint projects. To improve the spare parts situations, we have succeeded this year in starting a so-called logistics reconstitution process. This means that over the next few years we will gradually make up for inadequacies in the supply chain through extra purchases of spare parts.

FLUG REVUE: Let us look ahead to the future. Reconnaissance and battlefield UAVs are currently very fashionable. What are the Luftwaffe's plans with regard to unmanned air vehicles?

Lt. Gen. Back: The development of unmanned air vehicles has actually been quite meteoric. Battlefield experience of UAVs, primarily as operated by the US Air Force in Afghanistan, has been impressive. Already today it is apparent that unmanned air vehicles have clear advantages compared with manned solutions as regards range, endurance, payload options and the possibility of covering large areas. The advantages are particularly evident when one includes life-cycle cost considerations. Furthermore, it must be stressed that the danger to one's own personnel can be minimised.

However, although UAVs have these advantages compared with manned platforms, they also have some mission-critical disadvantages, especially as regards the criteria of survivability, punching power and agility. It follows from this that the air force can only do its job in the long-term with an optimum mix of manned and unmanned air vehicles.

Although the prospects for the deployment of UAVs in the area of reconnaissance already look good today, it is still early days as regards the use of agile, survivable and effective unmanned air vehicles for battlefield tasks.

Against this background we plan to start using UAVs for airborne reconnaissance. For wide-area reconnaissance, we are planning to introduce an unmanned platform by the end of the decade that will be able to move at very high altitudes, with a long loiter time. The first specific work on this has already been carried out. For reconnaissance in the operational area we plan to introduce unmanned platforms capable of operating at intermediate altitudes to complement our reconnaissance Tornados.

So much for our concrete plans. I would like to mention another important aspect, namely the fact that effective use of UAVs in the overall context of joint services operations makes it necessary for UAV operators and planners to have practical experience as aviators.

FLUG REVUE: Air defence against tactical ballistic missiles and cruise missiles seems to be gaining in importance too. What is the Luftwaffe planning in this area?

Lt. Gen. Back: The shift in the importance attached to air defence is most evident in the fact that today we talk about Extended Air Defence. In other words, comprehensive protection against the entire air threat posed by airborne vehicles or missiles operating at any altitude.

The risks associated with the proliferation of tactical ballistic missiles, in particular, are rising. The threat resulting from this both to our own troops deployed outside Germany and also to our sovereign territory is no longer just hypothetical.

In the Patriot weapons system, we already have a limited lower-level defence capability against the extended target spectrum. With this we are making an important contribution to NATO's Extended Air Defence capability. However, achievement of a full basic defensive capability against tactical ballistic and aerodynamic missiles requires modification of at least some of our Patriot systems and procurement of the PAC-3 guided missile, which is optimised for killing targets from throughout the extended target spectrum. This upgrade is firmly anchored in the Luftwaffe's plans, but its implementation has had to be delayed, so that in this area there is currently a serious capability gap. As well as this, studies in which the involvement of both Luftwaffe and German companies is stressed are currently looking into the question of an overall architecture for Expanded Air Defence for NATO. The essential point here is to expand the air defence shield right up to the upper layer also.

In the medium to long term, it will also be necessary to introduce a highly mobile, flexible, modular all-weather, air transport-capable "New Generation Air Defence System”, based on the TLVS/ MEADS project, with high-resolution 360º coverage and which can handle systems with extremely low signatures. Such a system is essential if we want to continue to be able to guarantee effective protection against attacks from the air in the future.

FLUG REVUE: "Net-centric warfare” is the latest buzzword. Does the future of the Luftwaffe lie in this direction too, and how is it preparing for it?

Lt. Gen. Back: The conceptual approach behind "network-centric warfare” is not really new. In actual fact it means nothing more than the effective linking of and interaction between sensor sources and command and control.

The fact that network-centric warfare is attracting so much attention at this time has several reasons. On the one hand this network has to be thought of today in a larger framework, across all three Services at the very least, and in fact to some extent it extends beyond the military area. On the other hand we now for the first time have the technological capability to exploit the full potential of this network and in very short time windows.

As far as the Luftwaffe is concerned, network-centric warfare holds the key to bringing to bear the inherent capabilities of air forces rapidly, flexibly and in an effect-oriented manner in the full spectrum of possible scenarios. The technological developments that are forecast in this area are expected to make air power far more versatile.

The Luftwaffe's plans are therefore specifically oriented towards implementing the network-centric approach. To this end it intends to improve command and control capability through the addition of new interoperable data links, to increase the accuracy and stand-off capability of systems and to enhance the airborne reconnaissance capability.

FLUG REVUE: Well-trained and motivated servicemen will continue to be critical to success. How do you plan to improve the attractiveness of the Luftwaffe?

Lt. Gen. Back: My impressions from numerous visits to the troops and relevant studies show clearly that working conditions are rated extremely positively by Luftwaffe personnel. Even in comparison with civilian establishments, we are doing very well here.

The conditions for employment in the Luftwaffe and hence its attractiveness are being noticeably improved. I would like to mention three examples here:

* The career paths for our non-commissioned officers have been restructured. We reward and make greater use now of qualifications that recruits bring with them than we did in the past, we promote military professionalism and offer attractive education and training programmes while people are with us that are recognised in the civilian world.

* Under the new "co-operative models” that we have recently introduced, officers and NCOs will work alongside employees of civilian companies in carrying out the demanding maintenance and repair work on our new weapon systems. I am convinced that this completely novel way of deploying service personnel, close to industry, will be an attractive and rewarding challenge to the people concerned.

* The pay scale for Luftwaffe commanders with the rank of flight lieutenant has been significantly improved. This rise takes into account the greater responsibility borne by young officers for personnel and materiel. At the same time it is an important signal to the effect that achievement, commitment and the assumption of command responsibility are rewarded in the Luftwaffe.

We are also thinking of introducing other possible improvements to ensure that we can continue to recruit qualified young people to the Luftwaffe despite intensive competition from industry.

FLUG REVUE: What exactly is the recruitment situation as regards flying personnel?

Lt. Gen. Back: The improved attractions I have mentioned are reflected in recent trends as regards applications. In all areas of activity the number of applicants seeking employment with the Luftwaffe has risen, in some cases significantly.

Again, as regards aircrew, the trend is gratifyingly positive and will allow us to apply very high qualitative standards in the selection of our personnel. As in previous years, the Luftwaffe will thus be able to meet its needs for replacement flying service recruits in full and without any compromises as regards quality.

Karl Schwarz was talking to Lt. Gen. Back.

From page 58 of FLUG REVUE 11/2002

Last updated 1 October 2002

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