Defense chief revamps German military to prepare for war

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced on Thursday a revamp of the country's military to make it fit for fighting a war.

The aim is "to restructure the Bundeswehr in such a way that it is optimally positioned even in the event of an emergency, in the event of defense, in the event of war," he said when making the announcement.

The new German military will be organized into four branches — the traditional army, navy and air force as well as a new cyber and information space branch. There will also be operational and support commands.

The new cyber branch will be responsible for dealing with hybrid threats as well as tactical tasks such as electronic warfare.

The army will now incorporate the homeland security forces, while the air force will monitor the condition of its aircraft — a function formerly performed by the defense ministry.

The goal is to make the German military more efficient as it shakes off decades of low spending and prepares for the challenge posed by an aggressive Russia.

"Since Russia has called the European peace order into question, a special threat situation has arisen for Germany and its allies," said the German defense ministry statement.

Pistorius said he expects the changes to be implanted in the next months.

The minister also said: "We have considered the reintroduction of compulsory military service," although that's not something that's currently in the works.

Germany's Bundeswehr has had difficulty in attracting recruits. It has 181,000 personnel and aims to get to 203,000 soldiers by 2031.