Germany will need between 50,000 and 60,000 additional active duty soldiers to meet new NATO targets, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Thursday, June 5th, as the alliance adopts new military plans to counter a perceived growing threat from Russia.
“We are stepping up to our responsibility as Europe’s largest economy,” Pistorius told reporters ahead of a NATO defense ministers’ meeting in Brussels, where the updated requirements for personnel and weapons were formally signed.
“We have to invest in our air defense systems, we have to invest in our long-range missiles, we have to invest in our maneuverable land-formations, command and control systems—all of this has to happen,” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said, adding that these steps would require “huge investments.”
For Germany, the updated target means increasing the size of the army to between 250,000 and 260,000 troops. At present, the military is significantly short of that number, still struggling to meet a target of 203,000 troops set back in 2018. According to defense ministry data, it is currently short by approximately 20,000 soldiers.
