Bundeswehr

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The

Bundeswehr

(

Federal Defense Force

) is the organization that controls andadministers thearmed forcesof Germany.

Armed Forces of Germany

Military manpowerMilitary age

mandatory 18 years of age

Availability

males age 18-49:

18,917,537

(2005 est.)

Fit for military

service

males age 18-49:

15,258,931

(2005 est.)

Reaching military

age annually

males:

497,048

(2005est.)

ExpenditureAmount

€

27.9 bln. (FY06)(approx. $33 bln.)

Percent of GDP

1.3% (FY06)

Command

Commander-in-Chief Franz-Josef Jung

Inspector GeneralWolfgang Schneiderhan

General information

The Bundeswehr is a federal defence force withArmy(

Heer

),Navy (

Marine

),Air Force(

Luftwaffe

),Joint Service Support Command (

Streitkräftebasis

), andCentral Medical Services(

Zentraler

Sanitätsdienst

) branches.The Bundeswehr has some 250,000 military personnel, 50,000 of whom are 18 to 25 year-old conscriptswho serve for at least nine months under current rules. The number of civilian employees is to bereduced to 75,000 during the coming years.Women have served in the medical service since 1975. In2000,in a lawsuit brought up byTanja Kreil,

theEuropean Court of Justiceissued a ruling allowing women to serve in more roles than previously

allowed. Since 2001 they can serve in all functions of service without restriction, but they are not subjectto conscription. There are presently around 13,000 women on active duty and a number of femalereservists who take part in all duties including peacekeeping missions and other operations.