German Navy Christens New High-Tech Submarines

BONN - The German Navy on Nov. 15 christened its most modern submarine at the Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW) shipyard in Kiel. The vessel includes improved communication, sensor and combat systems.

The U35 is an updated version of the Navy's four 212A-class submarines, which were put into service between 2005 and 2007. After having bought the four boats, the German military in 2006 placed an order with ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems subsidiary HDW for two additional vessels. While staying with the basic design, the U35 and U36 will benefit from recent experiences with the first batch of subs.

With an air-independent propulsion system that combines hydrogen fuel cells and diesel engines, they can remain submerged for weeks. At about 56 meters, both boats are about 1.2 meters longer than the earlier version. The two submarines have a displacement of about 1,450 tons and are operated by a crew of 27 sailors. The two new submarines feature a communications system suitable for network-centric warfare, as well as an integrated German sonar, command and weapon control system. The Callisto B submarine communication system, with its towable transmitter buoy, allows each boat to communicate while remaining deeply submerged.

The flank antenna array will be substituted with a superficial lateral antenna. One periscope will be replaced by the Carl Zeiss Optronics OMS 100 Optronic non-hull penetrating mast system. It can be remotely controlled via a multifunctional combat system console. The mast system offers various automatic functions such as sector scan or quick look-round. The sensor unit consists of a third-generation thermal camera and a high-definition TV camera, and it can be refitted with a laser rangefinder.

The improved boats also feature a special diver lock-out system integrated into the sail to deploy special forces. U35 is expected to be officially put into service in the summer of 2013. Until then, systems checks and sea trials will be conducted. U 36 is scheduled to be put into service in the winter of 2013.

Germany Backs Taliban Talks in Afghanistan

BERLIN - Germany's foreign and defense ministers called for the Taliban to be included in Afghanistan peace talks, ahead of a major international conference for the war-ravaged country next month.

Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle and Defence Minister Thomas de Maiziere told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper on Nov 27, 2011 that negotiations with the Islamist militant group was the only realistic option for lasting peace.

"Reconciliation does not happen among friends but rather between erstwhile opponents," Westerwelle was quoted as saying. "That is what we need to work on instead of speculation about who might not be ready to reconcile."

Germany has the third largest contingent of foreign troops in Afghanistan but had long rejected proposals to include the Taliban in peace negotiations. Westerwelle, who will host ministers from more than 100 countries in the western city of Bonn on Dec. 5 to discuss the future of Afghanistan after the withdrawal of NATO troops in 2014, said there was no guarantee of success. "But all agree that it must be tried," he said. The West "cannot simply say, 'You are evil, we won't negotiate with you,'" added de Maiziere.

"We cannot exclude everyone from the inner-Afghan reconciliation process who once had a sword in his hand," he said. Only when "a sufficient number of important groups" take part will the peace process have a chance of working.

Westerwelle said the war in Afghanistan could not be won militarily. "After 10 years it is obvious that in Afghanistan, there can only be apolitical solution, not a military one," he said. Taliban fighters frequently attack convoys supplying NATO troops in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, as part of a 10-year insurgency against the Western-backed Kabul government since U.S. troops toppled their regime in 2001.

This month, Afghan elders backed talks with Taliban who renounce violence, despite the assassination in September of peace envoy Burhanuddin Rabbani which officials blame on insurgents. De Maiziere said Berlin would keep troops in Afghanistan after the NATO pullout at the end of 2014, to focus on the training of local forces.

Germany Wants to Supply Battle Tanks to Saudi Arabia

Right in the middle of the Arab Spring, Germany plans to supply high-tech weapons to an undemocratic regime in the region. According to information obtained by SPIEGEL, Saudi Arabia is interested in buying up to 200 "Leopard" battle tanks. A sale would end Germany's traditional restraint on arms sales to the country.

Germany is prepared to deliver modern "Leopard" battle tanks to Saudi Arabia in a reversal of its decades-old policy not to supply heavy weapons to the authoritarian kingdom.

According to information obtained by SPIEGEL, the German security council, in which Chancellor Angela Merkel, Defense Minster Thomas de Maizière, and Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle are represented, last week approved the deal in principle. The Saudis are interested in purchasing more than 200 units of the most modern Leopard version, the Type 2A7+.

German defense companies including Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, Rheinmetall and many supply firms, are hoping for a deal worth billions of dollars because the Saudis are aiming to buy brand-new tanks rather than used ones.

Riyadh had initially negotiated with Spain where the company Santa Bárbara, part of a US engineering group, makes Leopard tanks under license. But now it appears that a large number of the tanks to be purchased will be made in Germany.

In recent decades, various German governments had turned down Saudi Arabian requests to buy Leopard tanks by arguing that such deals might endanger Israel's security. But Israel's high-tech military no longer sees Saudi tank units as a threat.

Saudi Military Helped Put Down Protests in Bahrain

Nevertheless, the kingdom has not been peaceable of late. In Bahrain, Saudi forces helped to crush protests during the Arab Spring.

The "Leopard" is one of many weapons systems being exported by Germany, and the government is helping manufacturers to sell their wares around the world. India, for example, plans to buy 126 fighter jets worth €11 billion, and German ministers have been banging the drum for Eurofighters in meetings with Indian officials.

Even highly indebted Greece likes to buy weapons made in Germany, such as submarines or "Leopard" tanks. Athens has also been pondering buying Eurofighter fighter jets.

Some 80,000 people are employed in the German defense sector. The Bundeswehr, Germany's armed forces, has also been involved in the international arms trade through the sale of used tanks.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the main buyers of German weapons systems in the years 2006 through 2010 were:

• Greece (with a share of 15 percent)

• South Africa (11 percent)

• Turkey (10 percent)

• South Korea (nine percent)

• Malaysia (seven percent)

SIPRI said that Germany advanced from fifth to third place among the biggest arms sellers between 1998 and 2009, even though a previous center-left government pledged in 2000 to pursue a "restrictive'" policy on exporting defense technology.

German exports have in fact doubled in the past 10 years and Germany's share of the world market rose to around 11 percent in the period between 2006 and 2010. Many of those deals had been approved by Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's government before it was voted out of office in 2005. Only the US (30 percent) and the Russians (23 percent) export more.

Retrieved from: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,772177,00.html

German Air Force Unveils Powerful Spy Plane



the German air force unveiled the latest addition to its fleet: the "Euro Hawk," a state-of-the-art spy drone. The reconnaissance aircraft can fly non-stop for 30 hours in the stratosphere without having to refuel and its on-board sensors can penetrate clouds and sandstorms.

After 10 years of planning and development, the Bundeswehr on Wednesday publicly unveiled its most recent acquisition of next-generation reconnaissance technology: a powerful new drone designed to bolster its surveillance capabilities on the battle field. The deployment in 2012 of the "Euro Hawk" is expected to launch a new era for Germany's armed forces.

The unmanned drone is similar to the spy plane introduced a decade ago in the United States military, the "Global Hawk," but with European modifications, Lieutenant Colonel Holger Neumann, a Luftwaffe spokesman, told SPIEGEL ONLINE. Both models are strictly used for surveillance purposes.

Although their plane may look like a clone of its American counterpart and includes much of the same technology, defense contractor Cassidian, a subsidiary of the European aerospace giant EADS, is equipping the aircraft with German-engineered sensors and surveillance equipment before delivering the final Euro Hawks to the Bundeswehr.

The drone will be able detect potential targets on the ground while simultaneously eavesdropping on wireless communications from cruising altitudes of up to 60,000 feet (18,288 meters) -- well above that of any commercial airliners, which generally fly at 30,000-40,000 feet. It is also designed to eavesdrop on telephone calls and text messages and to pick up radio and TV signals, among other data. That information is then transmitted in real-time to a control center on the ground in Germany. The on-board sensors are powerful enough to penetrate heavy cloud covering and sandstorms to capture signals.

A 'Vacuum Cleaner for Information'

Some have dubbed the machine a "huge vacuum cleaner for information," while others, like Rüdiger Knöpfel, the director of the German military's Euro Hawk program at the Federal Office for Defense Technology and Procurement, called the move a "milestone" in the history of the country's armed forces. The Euro Hawk is expected to far surpass the capabilities of Germany's existing unmanned aircraft. Reconnaissance is a core challenge for armed forces, Knöpfel said, and "currently we are deaf when it comes to electronic reconnaissance." That could change with the deployment of Euro Hawk.

The drone's technical details alone are impressive. The unmanned aircraft weighs 15 tons and is built of carbon fiber. It is 14.5 meters long and has a wing span of around 40 meters (131 feet). It can travel up to 25,000 kilometers non-stop, meaning it could fly from Berlin to Tokyo and back without having to land. But that's only one example. The drone's real future area of deployment is likely to be in war and crisis regions like Afghanistan, where the Bundeswehr is deployed.

Although the aircraft components for the first prototype were officially completed in 2009, the Euro Hawk didn't take off for its maiden journey until June 29, 2010. It was produced in California by Northrop Grumman, the American contractor that manufactures the drone and has created a joint venture with EADS to build the European version. Finally, on July 21, 2001, a prototype of the machine landed at the Luftwaffe air force base in Manching, Germany, after flying more than 10,000 kilometers (6,213 miles) in a 24 hour-long "hand-off" flight, during which American and German operators observed the drone's progress from ground control installations in their respective countries.

By next summer, the Luftwaffe is expected to begin operations with the drone as it carries out reconnaissance missions. Eleven German pilots have already received training in the United States. In total, the Bundeswehr plans to acquire a fleet of five Euro Hawks.

Retrieved from: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,791419,00.html