German Military Dilapidated

choi

There is no need to read the rest of either report.

(1) Tobias Buck, Germany Fights 'Dramatically Bad' Shortages as Security Burden Increases. Financial Times, Feb 21, 2018 (front page).

the first two paragraphs:

"From submarines to bulletproof vests, Germany's military equipment is 'dramatically bad,' according to an official report that hit out at decades of underfunding of the Bundeswehr.

"In his annual report, the parliamentary armed forces commissioner found that only a fraction of crucial weapons system were operations. 'At the end of year [2017] six out of six submarines were not in use. At times, not one of the 14 Airbus A-400M [transport aircraft] could fly,' Hans-Peter Bartels said yesterday in Berlin. The problems extend to personnel, with 21,000 officer positions vacant."  (brackets original)

(Note:
(a) This report is not translated into Chinese (www.ftchinese.com).
(b) German-English dictionary:
* Bundeswehr (noun feminine; from [noun masculine] Bund confederation +‎ [noun feminine] Wehr defense)
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Bundeswehr
* Bund (from verb binden bind)
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Bund

Compare
(a) The Bund  外滩
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bund
(b) bund (n; Hindi baṅd & Urdu band, from Persian):
"1 : an embankment used especially in India to control the flow of water
2 : an embanked thoroughfare along a river or the sea especially in the Far East"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bund

Regarding the etymology of bund, www.ocforddictionaries.com says "via Urdo from Persian" (not the other way around).

(c) President Trump has repeatedly pushed Germany (as well as other NATO nations) to increases defense spending, to 3% of its GDP.

(2) Andrea Shalal, 'Big Gaps' Persist in German Military Personnel, Equipment-Parliamentary Report. Reuters, Feb 20, 2018.
https://www.reuters.com/article/ ... eport-idUSKCN1G421H

two consecutive paragraphs:

"Pilots of a wide array of aircraft, including Eurofighter and Tornado fighter jets and all major helicopters, were lacking flight hours to complete their training because too few aircraft were ready for use, the report found.

"Bartels said the German navy had only nine frigates available, compared to 15 that had been planned, and they were more frequently in maintenance because of their increasing age.