BERLIN, May 12 (UPI) — The German Ministry of Defense announced plans this week to grow its military force by 14,300 troops and 4,400 civilians, the first increase in ranks since the Cold War.
But officials conceded in Tuesday’s announcement that the ministry may only be able to fill about 7,000 of the military slots by 2023.
Filling the higher-skilled jobs, such as those in cybersecurity, will be particularly challenging, Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said in the announcement.
The Bundeswehr faces a growing variety of missions at home and abroad, from refugee aid to battling Ebola in Africa and obligations in the Aegean sea, the ministry said.
The ranks of Germans in uniform has steadily declined from a Cold War peak of 585,000 to a more recent ceiling of 185,000 troops, according to the ministry.
