The German military has reportedly contacted key industries to expedite the movement of troops and equipment in case of an emergency.
According to a Handelsblatt report on Tuesday, the Bundeswehr is engaging with major logistics and defense firms to prepare for a potential NATO deployment to Eastern Europe “in the event of a Russian attack.”
Several NATO’s eastern members, particularly the Baltic countries, have repeatedly claimed that Russia is planning an invasion, a claim that Moscow has consistently refuted.
The Bundeswehr is reportedly holding private discussions with companies such as Deutsche Bahn, Lufthansa, and Rheinmetall to secure their assistance in transporting personnel, weaponry, and equipment.
The newspaper reports that the German Defense Ministry has requested Deutsche Bahn to assess how it could assist in transporting military convoys by rail during a crisis. Lufthansa is being considered to provide basic training support for fighter pilots through its flight school. Rheinmetall is already involved in military logistics through a recent €260 million ($300 million) contract and is in discussions to broaden its involvement.
According to the report, this initiative is part of Germany’s strategic role as NATO’s central logistics hub. Under the military bloc’s new defense framework, Berlin has pledged to mobilize thousands of soldiers and hundreds of aircraft and ships within 30 days should a crisis arise.
Defense officials informed the newspaper that the Bundeswehr is incapable of managing such a large-scale mobilization on its own. Therefore, German military leadership is turning to the private sector to establish what they term a “strategic deployment corridor” throughout the country.
“The Bundeswehr relies almost exclusively on civilian commercial service providers for the logistical transport of military goods and equipment outside of crisis zones,” the Bundeswehr Operational Command told Handelsblatt. “In sea and air transport for extra-wide and extra-heavy equipment, this figure is even 100 percent.”
This initiative arises as Germany attempts to recover from decades of underinvestment in its armed forces, which have left its military ill-equipped for large-scale conflict. The €100 billion ($115 billion) special fund announced by outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict is intended to reverse this trend. Gen. Carsten Breuer, Germany’s chief of defense staff, recently stated that the Bundeswehr must be war-ready by 2029 to be able to combat Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has consistently denied allegations that Moscow harbors aggressive intentions toward NATO countries, dismissing them as “nonsense” intended to alarm Western Europeans and justify substantial increases in defense budgets.