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Bundeswehr plans to invest four billion euros in the east

Bundeswehr plans to invest four billion euros in the east
By 2035, around four billion euros of Bundeswehr investments are to flow into the East. (Archive image) / Photo: Philipp Schulze/dpa
From: DieSachsen News
The Bundeswehr is looking into reviving old sites - and investing billions in the east. Which regions will benefit and what will happen to decommissioned barracks?

More technology, more personnel, more locations: the Bundeswehr is planning to invest around four billion euros in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. According to the Federal Ministry of Defense, this involves investments in "largely all areas of infrastructure". According to the current status, investments of 1.45 billion euros are planned by 2029 and a further 2.49 billion euros by 2035. According to a ministry spokeswoman, these are forecasts that are "very likely to change due to the current global political situation".

The highest investment sum is to go to Saxony: A total of 1.63 billion euros is to flow into the federal state during this period. In 2023, the ministry decided to establish a new Bundeswehr base in Bernsdorf-Straßgräbchen in Upper Lusatia (Bautzen district) in eastern Saxony. A new logistics battalion with around 800 posts is to be stationed there. According to Ulf Bandiko, State Secretary in the Saxon Ministry of the Interior, this alone will require investments of around 700 million euros over the next ten years.

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Bundeswehr examines reactivation of old sites

Another 1.37 billion euros will go to Saxony-Anhalt and 944 million euros to Thuringia. The Ministry of Defence did not want to specify which sites in the three central German states will be particularly important for "reasons of operational and military security". However, it is clear that the reactivation of decommissioned sites is also being examined.

Last year, the Bundeswehr had already imposed a moratorium on the conversion of former military properties owned by the federal government for civilian use. Specifically, this involves 187 sites that are no longer in use. According to the ministry, this also affects "areas in Saxony". They are in contact with "the regional stakeholders". Contrary to earlier plans, 13 other sites are no longer to be decommissioned - including parts of Berlin's Tegel Airport that are used for military purposes.

Around 6,000 reservists in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia

At the end of last month, Federal Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius (SPD) presented plans to increase the number of troops in the Bundeswehr from the current 186,000 to at least 460,000 men and women by 2025. According to the Federal Ministry of Defense, there are currently 5,910 reservists residing in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. Most of them are in Saxony (2,550), followed by Saxony-Anhalt (1,740) and Thuringia (1,620). The reservists' association, which recently spoke out in favor of raising the age limit for active reservists to 70, currently estimates their number at 60,000. The association has a total of 110,000 members.

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