At the beginning of 2023, the so-called spearhead of the military alliance has about 11,500 ground troops. The Bundeswehr provides around 8,000 soldiers.
The other forces are made up of Belgian, Czech, Latvian, Lithuanian, Luxembourgish, Dutch, Norwegian and Slovenian troops.
The force, officially known as the VJTF (High Readiness Joint Task Force), was created after 2014 and has been a centerpiece of the containment strategy against Russia ever since, Spiegel reports. Its feature is a high degree of readiness. The Alliance must be able to mobilize up to 20,000 soldiers in a few days and deploy them to crisis areas.
However, the transfer of command to the German command was accompanied by a scandal – publications appeared in various Western media about technical problems and even defects of the German Puma infantry fighting vehicle, which was actually supposed to be used in a number of missions. group key. During a VJTF deployment preparation exercise, all 18 Puma tanks were taken out of service.
As part of NATO commitments they are now being replaced by older Marder tanks. However, according to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, the lack of equipment in the Bundeswehr does not pose a danger to the VJTF. “I am absolutely sure that the nine countries that are in charge of the NATO task force will meet the alliance’s requirements,” he said.
Germany will administer the VJTF for one year. The unit is currently part of NATO’s NRF Crisis Response Force, which has a total strength of around 40,000 soldiers. In addition to ground forces, the NRF includes air and naval forces, as well as special forces.
