The future of German foreign missions

Foreign missions of the Federal Armed Forces have been a key component of Germany's foreign and security policy for decades. They are Germany's contribution to promoting peace, security and stability around the world. NATO, the EU and the United Nations think of Germany as a reliable partner that brings sophisticated military skills and qualified personnel to such missions.

The Ministry of Defence and the Federal Foreign Office have now completed the first ever evaluation of the Federal Armed Forces' ongoing foreign missions and summarised their findings and conclusions in a report. This work was based on the Federal Government's mandate to evaluate current and mandated foreign missions of the Federal Armed Forces, which is stipulated in the coalition agreement.

Federal Armed Forces continue to contribute to international crisis management

The Federal Armed Forces will continue to contribute to international crisis management, also in view of current geopolitical challenges and a reorientation of the armed forces to focus on its core task of national and alliance defence.

In 2023, the Federal Government issued its National Security Strategy in which this plan was explicitly confirmed. In consideration of numerous international crises, it is now more important than ever to ensure that Germany contributes militarily to international crisis management.

Significance of future Federal Armed Forces missions

All seven foreign missions for which a mandate was adopted by the German Bundestag, and which were ongoing at the time the report was completed, were evaluated. These missions that are taking place in connection with NATO, the EU and the United Nations were evaluated based on uniform criteria and key questions.

This evaluation gave rise to some overarching findings with regard to Germany's military activities in international crisis management as well as conclusion for future commitments of our armed forces.

The Federal Government drew five conclusions:

• In view of growing security and defence-related challenges and limited resources, future involvement of the Federal Armed Forces must be more clearly in line with Germany's security policy interests.
• Expectations with regard to Germany's military contributions should be realistic, as overly ambitious political and societal targets are not compatible with the actual conditions.
• Military and civil-military courses of action available to the Federal Government should be more flexible to enable a flexible and robust response to acute crises.
• The Federal Armed Forces should be adequately equipped to enable them to fulfil their core mission of national and alliance defence. This will also create the requisite conditions for making substantial military contributions to international crisis management.
• Political coordination processes concerning security policy issues are becoming ever more complicated within NATO, the EU and the United Nations. Discussions should therefore be held without reservations as to what conclusions need to be drawn from this development in order to be able to take action in any situation in the future.

The report is supplementary to the regular reviews of the missions that are performed before mandates are renewed. It also contributes to further political debate concerning the form of future foreign missions of the Federal Armed Forces. The evaluation also illustrates that the Federal Armed Forces' contributions are strengthening NATO, the EU and the United Nations in their ability to act in matters of security policy.

Current foreign missions

• Operation Inherent Resolve and NATO Mission Iraq(Counter Daesh/Capacity Building Iraq)
• Maritime security operation SEA GUARDIAN(MSO SG)
• Kosovo Force(KFOR)
• European Union Force ALTHEA(EUFOR ALTHEA)
• European Union Naval Force Mediterranean IRINI(EUNAVFOR MED IRINI)
• United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon(UNIFIL)
• United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan(UNMISS)

Further information about the missions is available on the Federal Armed Forces' websites.