BERLIN, May 2 (Xinhua) -- The vast majority of the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) fleet of "Eurofighter" jets are currently not suitable for military use, the magazine "SPIEGEL" reported on Wednesday.
According to "SPIEGEL", only around ten out of a total of 128 planes are able to participate in both domestic and foreign missions, an even lower figure than officially declared (39) in a recent report to the federal parliament (Bundestag).
The lack of operational readiness mainly owed to technical issues affecting the "Dass" self-protection system located in the Eurofighter's wing pod.
The report raises renewed questions over the veracity of recent statements issued by the ministry of defense amid growing public concern over the allegedly poor state of German military equipment. German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) insisted that the German Armed Forces are still able to fulfil all of their international commitments in mission abroad under the framework of NATO and European Union (EU) defense cooperation.
A spokesperson for the ministry of defense told "SPIEGEL" that although issues with bottlenecks in spare parts supply for the "Eurofighter" remained, "daily availability" was now higher today than in 2017.
Germany has formally pledged 82 of its "Eurofighters" to NATO for potential deployment in a crisis. "SPIEGEL" argued, however, that the term "availability" applied to jets which could theoretically be used as a designated share of the wider fleet but were in practice largely inoperable due to problems with "Dass" systems.
Under NATO regulations, Berlin has between 90 and 180 days to make 82 operational jets available to the defense alliance. The only reason Germany is currently not already in breach of related rules is that there is no acute need for it to actually mobilize military resources which it has promised as part of the NATO "High Readiness Force" and "Force of Lower Readiness" contingents.
"SPIEGEL" further highlighted that aside from issues with the "Dass" system, only four "Eurofighter" jets can be equipped with missiles and hence used for combat at the moment. Despite formal assurances to NATO, Germany would struggle to change this situation rapidly in an emergency given its need to acquire additional missiles from defense manufacturers.
