The Process of Equipping the Bundeswehr: Determination, “Narrow Places” and Results with Drones by the Early 2020s
The usage of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has been becoming one of the factors of the armed conflicts development and also the regulation of them. It means that readiness and ability to use UAVs effectively and the scale of equipping the armed forces with UAVs are rather important criteria of the legal capacity of the state armed forces. The article tries to explore the development of this process on the example of German armed forces which traditionally has had rather developed and high-tech industrial base. The Bundeswehr's equipping with drones allows not only to decide some military-tactical problems but also to fill the shortage of personnel. It is too important in the context of the planned growth of all parameters of German armed forces for long-term perspective. The article presents the types of the Bundeswehr non-combat, especially recon drones, the features of their usage in zones of the armed conflicts. The Bundeswehr faces some difficulties in the question of equipping by non-combat drones. The article also pays attention to German cooperation with the USA and the EU member states in the sphere of the creating and production of military robots. The author pays special attention to question of the Bundeswehr's equipping by combat UAVs. This idea actively and at the same time smoothly is promoted by CDU/CSU leaders for a decade. The discussion in the Bundestag is shown (its active phases were in spring and especially autumn of 2020). The article also issues the consequences of possible positive decision of the question of Bundeswehr's equipping by armed drones. It will mean gradual departure from commitment of “strategic restraint” that is historically determined by Germany’s responsibility for starting World War II.