Originally Posted by
Less Hair
It would be better to find out why strategic assessments and arms programs went so wrong and who was behind it. Defence budgets were on record levels for years so it was not any lack of funding to blame. What they had was just not well spent.
Very much this.
The combination of a great deal of technical expertise and a strong view from within the Federal Government that re-armament was likely to cause offence to Germany's allies created a perfect environment for certain people with influence to profiteer. I saw a small example of this working as a contractor with H&K for a time. If we believe that the UK arms industry has few scruples time spent with a German arms company would show that we are paragons of virtue by comparison.
Money has flowed from the federal government into the pockets of the smart people in the German arms industry for years. Providing Germany with an effective defence capability was way down their agenda. The restrictions placed on Germany with respect to offensive arms gave them the perfect excuse. Should be no surprise that the outcome has been a capability mostly just in name. Not unique to Germany, either, lest anyone thinks I'm singling them out.