It is a disaster. If a war breaks out against Russia, the Luftwaffe could also risk not being able to raise their fighters. Budget cuts and a lack of spare parts have brought German aviation to an all-time low since it was reformed after the war.
Despite Berlin's commitment to deploying some Tornado in Syria (Germany already provides weapons and training for Kurdish peshmerga fighters), the powerful Luftwaffe cannot engage more than six multi-role fighters against the Islamic State Tornado.
The problem is conceptual. Germany uses three categories to categorize its air force. The first contains all the aircraft in the inventory. In the available aircraft (including systems currently out of service due to maintenance or repair) and in the third, deployable aircraft (ie those ready for a mission). The German government then divides its air force between total fighters, those that could fly and those that actually can fly.
The example ofEurofighter Typhoon German is well suited. Berlin owns 109 EFA-2000s in three different variants. As of 30 September last year, 74 EFAs were available, but only 42 could be implemented, according to a report on German aviation obtained by Der Spiegel.
Same situation with the Tornado. Germany last year had a flight line formed by 89 Tornado. 66 were those available, but only 38 were implementable. Last year the Luftwaffe was made up of a total of 198 multi-role fighters, but if a war broke out it could have raised only 80 on paper, less than half.
80 fighters could be a considerable number, combined with other allied forces and those of the United States, but it is a misleading number. The German Ministry of Defense, in fact, does not distinguish available fighters from those that can be implemented. It turns out then that in September last year, i Typhoon there were only eight Germans ready to fight. In 2015 the number of Tornado deployable Germans further decreased to 30.
Accounts in hand, if a war broke out the Germans could raise thirty Tornado and eight to twenty (overestimation) Typhoon on an inventory of 198 aircraft.
(photo: Bundeswehr)
